Positive Habit Forming Media

Jacoby V, Edward; Patel, Harsh; Heginbotham, Naoki; Raisbeck, Olivia

Student Work

Positive Habit Forming Media

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News is presented in many different forms such as newspapers, magazines, websites, and mobile applications. There are many different tones in which articles can portray stories. Some of these include positive, negative, neutral, and constructive. Our project focuses on positive news, specifically, how it is drastically underrepresented and understudied in the current news landscape. The goal of our team is two-fold. First, we will investigate the effects that reading positive news has on individuals. Since there is not much pre-existing data on this subject, we will propose a study that will scientifically measure the effects of stress levels on individuals as they consume more positive news. In addition, we are also working on developing a mobile application that will encourage readers to take in more positive news using psychological habit-forming strategies. The popularity of mobile applications being used for news consumption has substantially increased in recent years, and pivoting to this strategy would help bring positive news into the mainstream market.

This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

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