Rage as a Metric

Every time I open social media, I end up regretting doing so. It seems like my feed has devolved into solely ragebait. The sad part is, this makes sense from an algorithmic perspective. If the goal is to maximize engagement, why wouldn’t you populate the feed with enraging content? Happy or uplifting content doesn’t sell as well. It’s tempting to view social media as a neutral product, but of course when something is free, you are the product. In this case, you and all of your attention, along with your sanity.