908: Tobias Rose-Stockwell | Dismantling the Outrage Machine

Moral Emotions

Tobias Rose-Stockwell explains how social media algorithms amplify moral emotions, creating divisive online environments. These algorithms filter content to engage users' moral foundations, leading to tribalism and in-group/out-group dynamics. This segmentation fosters a sense of moral threat, causing users to defend their in-group and denigrate the out-group.

Social media is very good at serving us moral threats to our way of life, to the way we think about the world because it is engaging and because it will sell ad revenue.

--- Tobias Rose-Stockwell

Jordan Harbinger adds that social media platforms are designed to make users feel bad, driving them to buy products or ideas to fill the void. He suggests removing these negative influences from one's digital environment to boost happiness and mental well-being 1.

   

User Behavior

Tobias Rose-Stockwell highlights how social media shapes user behavior by incentivizing conflict and sensationalism. Online disagreements often become performative, with users playing to their audience rather than seeking genuine understanding. This dynamic undermines productive discourse and fosters a culture of outrage.

We need to have better disagreements. The point is not to not have disagreements. The point is to try to figure out how to disagree better, not less, just disagree better.

--- Tobias Rose-Stockwell

Jordan Harbinger shares his frustration with YouTube's clickbait culture, where sensational headlines are used to attract views, often misrepresenting the content. This practice contributes to a collective sense of outrage and distorts public perception 2.