If it makes us feel this bad, why are we so interested in negative stories? One theory is that this is a human condition related to our ancestors. Life was dangerous thousands of years ago, and the human brain had to be ready to respond to any new, and possibly dangerous, event. So, it was this type of “bad news” event which got our attention first, and kept our attention, and it seems this habit has stayed with us. This developed further, to the point that now we are far more likely to pay attention to the thought of bad things in the future than the thought of good things.