Searching for Positivity in the UK Doctor X/Twitter Space

• Failure

• Outrage

• Politics

• Sarcasm

• Spitefulness

This week I decided to try and expand my network of Doctors in the UK on X/Twitter.

My initial plan was to engage by commenting on their posts.

Not too difficult a task in theory, but the longer I spent reading the more I felt the happiness draining out of me.

This was not the positive self improvement space I’d been engaging in previously.

This was a war zone.

Engaging at volume here was opening up a portal back to the Hell I was trying to escape from.

I was like Frodo staring into the dead marshes.

But instead of falling in and having to be fished out by Gollum I snapped out of it just in time.

I didn’t want to be sucked into the medical twitter-verse.

I didn’t want to feel that negativity.

I started writing content because I enjoyed the way it made me feel to share my thoughts and ideas.

I wanted to make other people feel positive emotions like inspiration, hope and confidence.

But I felt like there was a basic incompatibility when bringing this energy to a space that appears to thrive on negativity.

So far most of the Doctors I’ve met on X/Twitter have been fellow creators or entrepreneurs.

Our mutual interests and life philosophies lead to them naturally appearing on my timeline.

I love learning their origin stories of how they found their purpose and meaning outside of a traditional medical career.

But what about all the Doctors that are still contemplating change?

I needed to find and connect with them too.

I started actively searching through X trying to find UK Doctor accounts.

I knew an audience working in the same NHS system would be the most relatable to me.

But the only accounts I could find were full of politics and negative news.

I struggled to engage because I had no interest in this and didn’t want to feel depressed and outraged.

Negativity Bias

Negativity bias is a psychological phenomenon that causes humans to pay more attention to negative experiences than positive ones.

Like most human psychology the reason goes way back to evolution and survival instincts.

Paying greater attention to threats and negative stimuli = Survival

Focusing on the giant man eating snake in the tree is more of a priority than appreciating how beautiful the tree’s leaves look shimmering in the light.

In the context of our modern information age, negativity bias can manifest in 3 important areas:

1)Attention:

People often focus more on negative events or news stories.

They grab attention more easily and elicit stronger emotional responses.

“NHS on brink of collapse!”

“GPs at breaking point!”

“PA’s murdering Doctors in their Sleep!”

The message is loud and clear.

Pay attention or bad things will happen to you or the people you care about!

(Joking about Physicians Associates obviously)

2)Memory:

Negative experiences are often more memorable and can leave a stronger impression than positive ones.

This can lead to a disproportionate recollection of negative events compared to positive ones.

Thats why you can’t get over that 1 patient who made that particularly cutting remark despite seeing 29 other pleasant patients in the same day.

Negativity lives rent free in our minds.

Its the freeloader that contributes nothing and drives out all the Positive memories that make us feel good.

3)Decision-making:

Negativity bias can influence decision-making by causing people to judge the potential losses as more relevant than the potential gains.

This keeps people stuck in life as they are too afraid to take the calculated risks needed to advance.

I once nearly lost my cool with a patient-

She’d demanded to have what she thought was a breast lump investigated to exclude cancer.

However when I explained the investigation might involve a mammogram due to her age she got mad at me.

She couldn’t accept the miniscule risk of the mammogram radiation ‘causing cancer’ when it was supposed to diagnose it.

All the reassurance in the world wouldn’t change the way she felt.

An extreme example but worth thinking about next time you find yourself consumed by the potential risk of a decision and ignoring the potential ‘Life saving’ gain.

(For anyone concerned- there was no lump clinically and ultrasound confirmed it was just fat)

Where is the Love?

After hours spent trying to find posts that I could inject some positive emotion into I realised something…

The people that I’m trying to help, might not use X/Twitter.

This time last year I personally had no interest in going on X.

I had this perception that it was just for political commentary and negativity so I avoided it.

I had a preconceived idea that no good would come out of it.

Scrolling on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok on the other hand I at least knew that I’d be entertained.

But the thing is when I was spending all that time scrolling for entertainment, usually after a day of misery—

Every now and then I might see a post that I really connected to on a deeper level.

That one post changed the way I thought about the world or advised me on how to overcome a problem I had that I wasn’t aware of.

2 things occurred to me:

1. My content could be that post that leads to a breakthrough for someone like me last year.

2. Is X/Twitter the right platform to position my content so that someone like me last year stumbles upon it?

News & Politics

So bare with me now because ironically this might be slightly negative.

But I feel I need to clarify something about myself.

I have never been interested in politics.

I consume just enough so I know which party to vote for to make the world a better place for Everyone to live in, but I don’t go any deeper than that.

Rant alert…!

It’s the same revolving cycle of Bullshit.

• The majority of politicians are selfish sociopaths that pray on the poor and ignorant for their own gain.

• The informed and educated complain about it.

• The politicians lie and deflect.

• Eventually lieing politicians get caught wreaking havoc on everyone below them.

• They’re replaced by someone just as bad.

• The replacement uses negativity bias to influence the poor and uneducated that the risks of alternatives will have catastrophic consequences for them.

Its like a not-so Merry go round of bullshit and corruption.

I keep an eye on it from a distance but there’s no chance I’m gonna jump in.

I'm not saying that negativity isn't necessary for change:

• The GP contract

• NHS funding debacles

• The Physicians Associate Debate

• Industrial Action- Junior Doctors and Consultants

A few examples of areas where anger and outrage is valid.

But I recognise that actively engaging in this space on a regular basis isn't healthy for me.

It's just fanning the flames of negativity that sends me to work feeling burnt out before I've even started the day.

I respect everyone who has the resources to keep fighting and soak up the negativity but it's not for me.

I get the message.

The NHS is either run by incompetent scoundrels or corrupt sociopaths.

Either way its being destroyed and someone who stands to profit from buying the scraps once its privatised is pulling the strings.

I don’t need to dissect every single bit of information and outrage everyday, its the same story.

What you have to realise is that by consuming this content regularly you are making yourself feel negative.

I already feel bad about going to work and having to listen to patients suffer on NHS waiting lists.

Why would I want more of that outside of work?

Summary

Humans have a natural negativity bias

We feel the need to know about everything bad that’s happening so we can avoid it.

In the process we feel all of this badness emotionally.

This narrows our perspective of life and blinds us to all the positive experiences around us.

Negativity breeds further Negativity

The media uses negativity to hold attention and keep us spiralling down into the gutter.

We need to use social media mindfully to avoid exposure to unnecessary negativity.

As Doctors we see enough negativity during the working day we don’t need anymore.

Reducing negativity opens the door to cultivate more Positivity in our lives and this is always necessary.

Become of aware of the Negative emotions elicited by the content you consume.

Choose to resist the natural urge to follow your survival instincts.

Don’t be negative for negatives sake.

It will keep you trapped where you are.

You need Positivity to progress forward.

Thats all for now

Lewis

P.S

• I help Introverted Doctors Escape Career Stagnation by being True to Themselves.

• If you or anyone you know needs help I’d love to talk it over.

• Feel free to comment or reach out to me via X, Linked-In or IG.

I’d love to hear what you thought of this newsletter. If you liked it just reply to this email with the name of the social media platform that you spend the most time on.