@jwildeboer @jwildeboer Maybe it’s time to swap the connections to fill your timeline with some more positive news :-).

Seriously, I get your point. Methinks, on the one hand what you observe is natural, on the other there clearly is hope.

As a therapist explained to me the other day, human beings (as all wild animals) are naturally wired to be extremely sensitive to threat and then go into fight or flight mode. It’s a matter of survival in wilderness and as such it is a good thing(tm). As a result, we are naturally wired to focus on potential threats, that is, all the negative things around us. The conclusions is somewhat dark: people, when left to their own devices, tend towards negativity. That’s the normal.

We, however, have the ability to “fix ourselves”. We don’t need to live our lives in fear scared for the sabre toothed lion to jump on us. But that requires effort. To think positively requires energy, it does not come naturally. One needs to constantly reminded oneself and her/his surroundings that there are things to cheer. While I am not a proponent of forced positivity, simple techniques, like gratitude journaling (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratitude_journal), or just consciously focusing on the more positive messages than negative ones helps a lot.

Myself, for instance, I see quite some positive messages around me. For instance in my saturday note here: https://qoto.org/web/statuses/105723219489655944 - e.g., read more lifestyle column of your favourite newspaper. Silly, but works. Elsewhere, this morning, I see here at Mastodon people opening up about their political preferences (https://qoto.org/web/statuses/105732464266923083) - that’s nice. I find also some pixelfed photo streams of people around really nice (with simple pics from walks, or hikes) as they show their simple, normal life with some positive moments in it.

1) carve out some small energy every to seek positive; 2) seek positive. And let us know about the good outcome :-). Good luck there!