No Panic. How To Stay Calm In A Negative Information Environment - Self-development

The world is constantly shaken by all kinds of events. Most of the information that pours out on us from the media is solid negative. There is a regular escalation of the situation and, as a result, the suppression of public mood and mass panic. How to keep calm in a negative information environment? How to resist stuffing and unconfirmed facts? How to isolate truth from information garbage?

Information stuffing

Thanks to technology, tools for informational stuffing have long surpassed the talents of "near-entrance" gossips. By the way, not only textbook grannies become carriers of information infection. From any target audience, you can choose certain activists who will definitely know more than others and will gladly share this information. There is no doubt that the information is extremely negative.

Informational stuffing is always negative and always based on lies. The stuffing itself is an effective method for disseminating some information (and not the information itself), the mass knowledge of which will entail certain consequences. More often than not, everything is associated with obtaining material benefits.

To use the stuffing tool, you need a serious informational occasion. Another deadly virus, everything related to terrorism, education issues - everyone must have come across a similar one. As a result of the injection, even if the initial information itself was true (for example, exceeding the threshold for the incidence of SARS and influenza in the region), it will change dramatically. At the same time, gracefully preserving the necessary emotional coloring. And, of course, the overall picture will be negative. Negative information is intuitively perceived by a person as a danger, it is always more remembered. At the same time, as a rule, a person does not try to understand the original source.

In an informational occasion, mass character and impossibility of verification is very important. That is why you receive unknown audio messages in the transfer, the format of which is unusual for social communication. Information is always without facts, superficial, in general terms. There is no place for any details in such messages - because they can distract from the desired emotional mood.

Why and who needs it?

The purpose of any stuffing, unlike news, is to manipulate the emotions of the audience. Who is doing this and why?

Option 1. The prank succeeded

People with certain mental disabilities are spreading false, exaggerated information a hundred times. Those for whom other people's experiences are a form of receiving pleasure. They can be compared to serial killers who leave traces and watch the disclosure of their deeds. Sowing panic, unrest and chaos, they feel like arbiters of destinies, great figures.

Option 2. Sincere participation

Any of us can also be a distributor of false information. Yes, especially now. Let's say you receive a message that a good friend of yours has reposted. And the message mentions a certain brother of a friend of the author of the message, who works, say, at the Research Institute of Epidemiology in the city of "N". You believe because it was sent by a person close to you, and, without going into details, you repost. And one more. You have a noble motive - to warn as many people as possible about the danger.

Option 3. Getting the benefit

A common form of benefit-seeking. A striking example is the PR of immunostimulating drugs with unproven effectiveness, dietary supplements, all kinds of vitamins. The annual epidemics of influenza and ARVI serve as an informational occasion, and under this sauce the target audience is offered a “miracle pill”. Revenues from pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies are sharply increasing and, as if imperceptibly, prices for the entire range are increasing.

Sad consequences of stuffing

Panic (from the Greek panikon - unaccountable horror), a psychological state caused by the threatening influence of external conditions, and expressed in a feeling of acute fear that grips a person or a group of people, an uncontrollable and uncontrollable desire to avoid a dangerous situation.

One of the quick and predictable consequences of information injections is an increase in mass panic. All people differ in their level of anxiety. Everyone has a completely different emotional background. If one laughs at the next sensations in the press, realizing that usually the headlines are not too objective, the other, with an increased level of basic anxiety, will react differently.

It should be remembered that in most cases of escalation of acute situations, the reason is the rating. News about disasters and epidemics is usually the most popular. Naturally, it is profitable for the media to procrastinate the topic, which in turn makes people worry and think. And then the crowd effect is gaining strength.

Whatever the individuals that make up the crowd, their lifestyle, occupations, characters, their transformation into a crowd is enough for them to form a kind of collective soul …

G. Le Bon

An example is simple: if suddenly on the street you see a crowd of people running in one direction, you, firstly, will be interested in the goal, and secondly, the probability that you will not join is rather small.

How to keep calm

There is a lot of information. As we have seen, used to lshaya part of it - it's bad news, scandalous talk shows and interviews, revelatory articles, news stuffing and often outright heresy highly rated. How to resist the flow of information and keep calm, especially when some problem that is urgent now is actively discussed around?

A few factors are enough for the panic state to grow: a feeling of anxiety and uncertainty, the presence of rumors that exaggerate the possible danger and describe the theoretical consequences in color.

First of all, you need to learn how to filter information. If you pass the entire flow of information through yourself, nothing good will happen to your emotional state. Constant anxiety modulates certain behaviors, impairing the quality of life. Learn to receive information in doses. Ask yourself, “Does this concern myself? Do I really want to worry about this topic every day?"

If you feel that you are overwhelmed by panic, you need to take care of yourself.

1. You do not need to actively try to deal with panic, you will get bogged down in an anxiety state even more.
2. Carrying on with your daily routines and concerns will help drive out endless obsessive worries.
3. Use mild sedatives (motherwort, valerian).
4. Breathing exercises, breathing control according to a certain pattern help to keep calm.

As practice shows, you can cope with anxiety states associated with information stuffing and mass hysteria on your own. Also, do not forget that there are always relatives and friends nearby who are ready to listen to you. And, of course, if you are not coping with your condition and this greatly impairs your quality of life, you can consult a specialist.

Everything will be fine