The Brief: During heavy and dark news cycles, "Good News" Instagram and social media accounts feature positive stories to encourage optimism and hope.
DEEP DIVE
‘Good News’ Instagram accounts highlight positive stories to help people cope during difficult times.
2020 has been a year. And it’s only March. Whether it’s rumors about World War III, devastating Australian wildfires, the election, or the COVID-19 pandemic, the news cycle can be extremely disheartening. While it’s important to stay updated on current events, overconsumption of negative media, especially as technology enables us to view constant updates, can have negative effects on mental wellbeing.
Good News Instagram accounts share optimistic news stories to provide a cheery alternative to dreary (albeit true) 24/7 news cycles. These social media accounts post headlines and articles that highlight human kindness and other wholesome content.
Created by @Tank.Sinatra, the Instagram account @tanksgoodenews curates content with “positivity with a hint of humor” for an audience of over 1.4 million followers. Other popular accounts include @goodnews_movement (638k followers) and thedailyst_goodnews (39k followers).
These accounts can appear a bit cheesy, but that’s precisely the point: to share things that will make people smile, even if they aren’t the most interesting or hard-hitting stories. Some posts inadvertently reveal darker sides to “good news” stories, such as this one about people transporting expensive medicine from Mexico to the U.S. because of drastic price inflation.