How negativity sweeps the new year

As people count down the final seconds before the new year, many emotions are brought up in  anticipation for the year to come, but are we anticipating the wrong things?.The newest trends with the new year appear to be making the world focus on the worst.

As we kick off 2023, New Year’s resolutions are put on the back burner, and the New Year Bingo predictions are on the rise. The trend focuses on the ability to predict events that will break the internet:scandals, politics, and even celebrity deaths are all eligible bingo slots.

Though New Years used to be about positive self-improvement goals or breaking bad habits, this mindset has changed.

New Year’s Resolutions have slowly been on the decline for quite some time. With only 4% of people keeping their resolutions six months after New Year’s Day, the lack of success might be turning people away from the tradition altogether. In 2022, only 23% of people claimed they were making resolutions compared to 31% the year prior.

Senior Dylan Arndt plans on taking part in a 2023 bingo prediction. “It’s my first year doing it with my family,” Arndt explained. “It’s for pure enjoyment that’s all. It’s fun to gamble a little bit and look into the new year differently. The only thing is when you predict something right not only is it rewarding, but it’s also sad because most of the time you try and predict bad events,” he said.

With New Year’s bingo predictions on the rise it brings out a more morbid outlook onto the new year, but why is this?

A main cause is societies overarching pessimistic views. Though 2022 was supposed to be the start of a new era after the global pandemic, many peoples’ realities were marred by COVID-19 taking millions of lives, continued quarantines, job loss, and uncertainty about the future. It is no surprise that many view life in a negative light

Despite the effects of these past years on society’s outlook on life, they are not the only cause. Research shows that humans are naturally wired to focus on the negatives.

Former Professor of Psychology at Augustana College Jessica Schultz says, “It [negative mindset] protected us from harm. But in the present era, where there is little risk of physical harm, it frequently just gets in the way. The negativity bias is the proper term.”

When compared to positive situations, painful ones cause us to dwell more on them. The influence of negative thoughts, feelings, memories, feedback, and perceptions is greater than that of positive ones. This can also explain our focus and attention to negative details instead of positive ones.

Overall, with the beginning of 2023 kicking it into gear, it is important to move past the negativity of the past and focus on how to be better, not manifesting the worst.

Right idea, poor execution: The faults in making new year’s resolutions

Spartans strive for success in the new year

Top six ways to accomplish your new year's resolutions