Bad news! How Bad Is It For You, Really?

As it turns out, it is highly subjective and individual.

How do we know that bad news, is bad?

Bad news is “any news that adversely and seriously affects an individual’s view of his or her future” (Buckman 1984).

That is Buckman’s definition.

It must fulfil 2 set of criteria in my opinion.

• It prevents us from exiting from activities we don’t like to do.
• It prevents us from entering into activities we want to do.

Other than that, it could be multiple Chicken Littles at play. Yes, it is good that we are warned when a portion of the “sky” dropped from above us, it is vastly different when we interpret that as “End of the World” and start propagating that impression of ours.

Imagine the impact on the Paranoid others and those with hypochondria.

Is that a form of massive annoyance?

Probably.

And I would go as far as to say that isn’t the intrinsic nature of bad news.

When bad news is concerned, it has to have a direct impact.

Let’s think about this for a moment.

What happens when we continuously and consistent spread our worries about potential unemployment if our names are excluded from 2 tranches of Corporate release exercise?

I know, we might be genuinely concerned about that materialising.

But what impact does that have on those around us who have been asked to the room and given the letter?

It would make them feel worse and they might think we are actually mocking at them when we are just too indulged in our own little cocoon of hypochondria. We have to arrest ourselves at times.

Next, I think that bad news has to be contextual and relevant.

2020 is besieged with bad news. Many people are told to work from home to reduce the possible outreach of COVID-19 and getting infected. Many news anchors has presented in a way that is bad in oriented for the commercial sector, retail and hospitality.

I get that.

But there is really no impact on the active participants in the Gig Economy, focusing on freelancing and project-based work, vast majority of them are already working from home way before 2020.

So, is the policy for Working-From-Home a piece bad news for these group of professionals?

No.

Not a dent.

Their life goes on.

We need to understand that when it comes to bad news, we have to identify the pockets of people who will be impacted instead of assuming that everyone else will share the same sentiment.

Would a retiree think that skyrocketing unemployment statistics is genuine bad news?

To themselves — I doubt, because they are not in the employment market and probably not intending to get back.

For their working young, probably.

For the grandchildren that the retirees are helping to care for at home — They are too busy fighting for Lego bricks or iPad with the young others than to focus on the glum faces of their parents.

When is bad news really, bad news?

My acid test is simple.

When we can’t do what we want to do.

• For instance, being mandated to stay at home by policy when we want to get out for soccer.
• For instance, being mandated for home quarantined by policy when our commission income is dependent on our ability to sell and close face-to-face.
• For instance, having our smartphones take away by our parents because it is time for us to focus on our virtual classes.
• For instance, having been told that we could no longer run when we have been a Track and Field athlete for the longer time due to illness.

These are valid bad news.

As for alien invasion, visits by Martians, sighting of Unidentified Flying Objects …

I think, let’s just leave that to Chicken Little.

He is probably the right recipient of such bad news.

Is the lack of vaccination for COVID-19 bad news?

It depends on your decision to be vaccinated or not.

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About the Author:

As a Consultant by training, I believe in making the complex simple.

Because simplicity adds value.

Simplicity helps us gain clarity, and clarity helps us to grow.

And if we are not growing, then what’s the point of anything else?

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