Bad news, it seems, is everywhere. COVID-19 cases are spiking across the globe. Financial markets are getting hammered. The United States' botched exit from Afghanistan has the international media (yet again) gloating over the demise of the U.S. empire. Tens of millions across the world are on their smartphones "doom scrolling" into a low-level depression. I've been lucky this summer. For the past few weeks, I've been hiding out in Hungary, which, despite its authoritarian political reputation, feels like one of the freest places in Europe. You don't have to wear masks. You can have a drink at a pub without having to log in with a Big Brother "test and trace" tracking app (like in the U.K.). The Hungarian media spares you the onslaught of daily statistics on COVID-19 cases and deaths. Spending a few summer weeks free from the tyranny of the negative headline has been exhilarating. Meanwhile, not much has changed in the U.K. The headlines are as negative as ever. Government policy - dubbed "Project Fear" by the media - is chaotic and contradictory. The Behavioural Insights Team - partly owned by the Cabinet Office and dedicated to "nudging" public opinion into submission - has lost the plot. This state of play is ironic. After all, the U.K.'s vaccination rate is among the highest in the world. The delta variant peaked there in mid-July. The number of daily deaths from COVID-19 is now lower than the number for almost any other disease. Yet when I return to the U.K., I will return to a world of relentless doom-mongering and expensive COVID tests. The Reign of the Negative Headline Scan any newspaper in any part of the world at any time and you'll find disaster is looming on the horizon. Whether it's the latest political fiasco... a devastating natural catastrophe... apocalyptic climate change... or a global pandemic... the world is always coming apart at the seams. Since taking off in the late 1800s, the modern mass media has had one rule: "If it bleeds, it leads." The COVID-19 pandemic was tailor-made for a tech-dominated, overcommunicated world like this one. Today's ubiquitous media - on our phones, laptops and cable news - keeps us in constant fear. And Silicon Valley tech giants made it worse than ever before. Click on any COVID-related article today, and you can be sure that more articles will turn up on your news feed tomorrow. What's worse, you don't even need to click on it. It's enough for you to talk about it with a friend. That's because Google listens in on your conversations and feeds you stories about what you've been talking about. (Watch the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma for more on this topic.) I've stopped using Google unless absolutely necessary (I use DuckDuckGo instead). I rarely check Facebook. I all but ignore Twitter. By limiting my exposure to the gloom and doom media, these small steps have made my life a bit less stressful. | 
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