Progress is a measure of things being different, not necessarily better. And talking about it as an achievement can actually make it more difficult to spur real forward movement. If we want to understand our society’s progress, we need to change the way we speak about it. This story was also published on The Correspondent here: https://thecorrespondent.com/720/why-the-world-can-get-worse-by-constantly-saying-its-getting-better/95290699680-8e501010 Want to support journalism that looks deeper than the headlines to show you how the world really works? The Correspondent is an online platform for unbreaking news. Set your own membership fee and join us today to get access to our full catalogue of articles and podcasts: thecorrespondent.com/join Voice-over/producer: Emi Paternostro Executive producer: Jacco Prantl If you have questions, please email: hello@thecorrespondent.com