Google Assistant Now Delivers Positive Vibes, for Free

There’s an endless list of controversies and conversations happening in today’s world. There are conflicts, there are political wars, local issues, and so much more. And sometimes, all of this can really affect a person’s mental health. Some of us even have trouble being positive about life because of the lack of positivity in our lives, or just seeing nothing positive happening around us.

To partly tackle the problem, Google is testing a new Assistant feature that will deliver positive vibes, for free. The feature, called “Tell me something good” essentially allows you to view positive news from around the world. Google is integrating Solutions Journalism Network into Assistant, which curates stories from a wide range of media outlets to highlight some of the good work being done by communities around the world.

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Google is calling this the balanced media diet. “Solutions journalism empowers and energizes audiences, helping to combat negative news fatigue. It’s an important part of a balanced news diet, so we’re exploring how to incorporate more solutions journalism wherever you access Google News,” the company said. The feature isn’t just about highlighting positive news around you, but it’s more to motivate users to focus on solutions than the problems — aka, not focusing too much on the bad things and being empowered to find solutions to things instead. It’s a pretty cool initiative.

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Conversation 4 comments

  • nicholas_kathrein

    21 August, 2018 - 11:44 am

    <p>It's a nice feature to be available. I'd think it wouldn't be used much but once in a while when you're feeling down good news is nice.</p>

  • SvenJ

    21 August, 2018 - 7:58 pm

    <p>Hey, that's good news. I feel better already.</p>

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    22 August, 2018 - 2:19 am

    <p>So, Google has learnt what traditional news outlets have known for decades, if not centuries…</p><p>Ever since I can remember (around half a century), the news shows have always ended on a positive note, with some silly, feel-good story.</p><p>Newspapers have also done this, interspersing the bad news stories with the odd story of courage, friendship or other positive attributes.</p>

  • melinau

    Premium Member
    24 August, 2018 - 6:49 am

    <p>Hate to be grumpy, but this kind of initiative is the panglossian version of the infamous 'fake nooos'.</p><p><br></p><p>It may not be pleasant or palatable to many of us, but most of the world's population live lives of inequality, poverty, exploitation, deprivation, famine flood or warfare. In the 'Googlesphere' of Western Europe, USA &amp; Australasia live lives of historically unparalleled luxury and plenty. The notion that we might be auto-served 'good news' will merely reinforce our incipient belief that all's well and we live in the best of all possible worlds.</p><p><br></p><p>Of course there are lots of 'Good News' stories, but sadly these are swamped by those which reflect the greed, stupidity and ignorance of our ruling classes. We need to deal with, the emergence of Fascists like IS, and the imminent destruction of our ecosphere &amp; civilization, not be force-fed stories of girl-scouts helping little old ladies in Kansas.</p>

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