Social Media and the Business of Anger
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2022
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Does the internet run on rage?
If you’ve spent any time online, you know that anger is to the internet as cake is to a birthday party. But why have the interwebs become a place of such division and rage? It’s complicated, but we’ll explain in this Wisecrack Edition: Why We Love Being Mad Online. Just please don’t yell at us.
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Written by Amanda Scherker
Hosted by Michael Burns
Directed by Evan Yee
Editing and Motion Graphics by Jackson Maher
Produced by Olivia Redden and Griffin Davis
Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound
#TwitterWars #Algorithms #Wisecrack
© 2022 Wisecrack / Omnia Media, Inc. / Enthusiast Gaming
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You guys have some of the sketchiest sponsors 👀
8:52 I gave a bad YTA judgement on one of those AITA posts and it instantly made my karma negative. Please make sure you're right before you post.
Heck yeah time to virtue signal myself lol: You might want to reconsider this sponsorship for future videos. A quick Google search will show you that their business practices are not up to snuff, to say the least. They deal with people's health, safety and extremely sensitive personal information. These matters shouldn't be taken lightly. You don't want to be associated with this company.
@@undercoverduck And now it's my turn to pile on 🤩! I agree. Why UA-camrs keep taking this comapany's money despite the adverse effects on their own image is beyond me. There's a difference between selling someone a pair of shitty headphones and endangering people's mental health.
@@vinny-is-here - you're on a philosophy channel on UA-cam. Right according to whom? Right in whose idealistic world view? If you thought that person was the astonishing character of reprehensible qualities, your opinion could be justified if supported by a valid viewpoint.
Reddit is a circle jerk.
Another issue is that a lot people might watch a video like this and think "yeah, it's awful how all those other people (especially people I disagree with) get so worked up and only make things worse. It's a good thing I don't do that." It's our bias blind spot.
That's called "projection". It's a very easy trap to fall into, but with a lot of work on oneself (like psychotherapy, for instance), it is possible to accept your own flaws, recognize them, and therefore not be so angrily mobilized when you see it in others...
Yeah it’s sucks that other people have blind spots.
I think social media as a whole is the problem. Personally, I find it very cathartic to spend lots of time complaining about how terrible social media is on Reddit or in the UA-cam comments.
@@owlegradLMAO. This is so smart joke WITHIN the context.
The recognition that we all have a bias even if we convince ourselves that we dont
Always easier to keep people divided than to unite against authority
Divide and conquer
-A roman, probably, according to my history teacher.
And so we engage with the algorithm with this comment. May we see more wisecrack!
Here we have a prime example of using a single simple text to elicit anger lol
I mean... When one of the opposing side seems to want to champion the authority there's no much you can do at that point.
Its no coincidence how this change corresponded with the rise of corporations. The capitalist establishment cant possibly fight against a united angry working class. Best to make sure the vast majority of them disapproves of anger, and keep the remaining angry ones fighting against each other
CGP Grey's "This Video Will Make You Angry" will always be relevant about how anger will naturally propagate itself and fester. Avoid those mind germs!
A few weeks ago, I decided to take a break from Twitter. I was constantly bitter, cynical, grumpy, and impulsive, and was fed up with the effect it had on me and others in my life. Thinking I would not use it for a few days, I ended up taking a 26-day break. During that time, I could not believe how tangible the difference was - not being plugged into the Instant Rage Machine made me happier, catastrophise much less, feel less controlled by dopamine, and just made life MUCH more enjoyable. It was like a switch had flipped, and it made the control that social media has on our lives and societies feel absurd and, frankly, violent.
I'm back on it now, and already notice old, crappy thought patterns seeping back in. I'm dramatically changing how I use the app to curb these, and I can't recommend enough doing the same. You will literally feel happier, healthier and less constantly enraged by day 2.
I'd say quitting all social media is the one hope of regaining SOME sanity... =\
I quit Facebook about two years ago, and Instagram a while back, and I am scared to go on and delete my accounts because I'm so afraid I'll get hooked again. Thank goodness I could never figure out Twitter.
yeah I quit all social media at the end of 2020 and my life has been so much easier. I refuse to look at anyone on there, no ads every other posts, just straight up nothing. It feels nice.
I’m not on Twitter and I’m still a constantly bitter and angry person, instructions unclear
Social media is a feeding ground for energy vampires.
Colin Robinson treats twitter like an AYCE buffet
The energy you get from social media isn’t quite as pure, but if you do enough of it it still fills you up
@@benbalko2656 ok nosferatu
This makes me angry
Indeed. I’m not familiar with Twitter or Instagram, but I know tiktok makes it so easy to get trapped in a sphere of fear and/or unhappiness. Once you watch a video or two, or comment it’s hard to escape.
I thought about this after youtube said they were removing the dislike button. Now to show people how much you didn't like something, you have to comment. That change was so clearly made for increased ingadement
holy crap didn't think of it that way, felt like such a random move back then
there was also the racism and the sexism. videos about stuff like Captain Marvel were getting hit by swarms of dislikes from right-wing aholes who were offended by the mere idea of a superhero movie starring a woman.
@@perfectallycromulent yeah but they're still disliking the videos anyway, we just can't see it. I'm more concerned about tutorial videos. I want to know how helpful they are since not everybody who viewed the video is gonna say, "this helped!" Or "this didn't help!"
Sometimes people don't like something bc it's bad.
Also I love your name😁
my favourite part is people interpret everything in the worst possible way to get angry about it
I'd say that's 99% of all arguments on the internet....... haha
And just what the #°@& is _that_ supposed to mean?!
It's worse than that, I have had many fights on the internet and the whole fight comes down to misunderstanding what the other says and believing that we are superior to the other and assuming that one is right and the other is wrong, in the end it turns out that we both had the same thoughts and conclusions is literally a battle of egos
I only argue online when my mental health deteriorates. That’s my cue to do some offline activities for a while instead.
Most relatable comment I’ve seen lol, I find myself constantly in arguments online where people grand stand ridiculous positions with the most baseless points. I can’t help myself but to explain to someone how they’re wrong, people hop on the internet and all of a sudden think they’re debate gods and know the key to life. It’s quite annoying so I try my best to not do the exact same thing I see them do when I’m proven wrong, and have now decided to just let it go and not reply/comment at all.
I quit Twitter cold turkey for exactly this reason: it wasn’t enriching my life, it was just making me angrier. My solution for the need to get my thoughts out of my head was to write notes and journal, and that has been incredibly helpful.
I used to be the type to get outraged online and get in arguments. Then I had a crazy mushroom trip and realized how unimportant and small I am in the big scheme of things.
Now when I comment online, I try to limit it to being constructive, funny, kind or helpful. I don't feed the trolls. I also consciously recognize and avoid outrage bait. The algorithms sure do try hard to engage me, though.
I made a deal with myself 4 months ago to only leave comments that put out at least some kind of positive energy online. No ranting, no mean sarcasm, no lecturing, no trying to one-up someone. I delete a lot of responses before I even send them now. It’s helped my mood significantly, & it also leads to less viewing of angry & triggering things in the first place.
This is the reason I stopped clicking on political videos/news articles and why I deleted twitter. It’s pointless and only makes me aggravated at people’s stupidity.
Agreed. It's why I deleted my Facebook account
I am really appreciating all the feedback Michael is sharing with us commenters about our pleasant disposition. It feels good to be noticed.
Shut up!
Sorry fam, I'm just doing it for the algo 😉
Fun coincidence, I *just* finished watching a video talking about the predatory practices of Better Help right before this video started 🙃🙃
Lol. Me too.
I remember watching a Hank Green video where he argued that we are bad at social media because we are new at it. I agree.
From a business model perspective, think of how many people don't bother with the comments section because it's 'toxic'. The anger model might be easier to formulate, but it leaves some of the market untapped.
Even if you're cynical, it's hard to deny that an untapped market presents a potential business opportunity.
Social media became the ultimate space for psy ops and is less about tech every year.
Yes and no. Tech is pretty much never about the tech itself, in practical terms, it's about what you can do with it. The printing press was less important than the ability to mass reproduce information, for instance.
Social media was never about the tech itself. At least past the experimental stages. It was what companies could do with it to make money. And what organizations could do with it to exercise power.
Love the Smashing Pumpkins quote on the end! it made my day!
You are being a little dunning krigerish is my new FAVOURITE LINE EVER
It's funny you mentioned the study by Brady et al, 2021. I am a phd student in the UK, researching fake new and cognitive behavior. Interestingly, A study I recently finished suggests that a trend may be emerging, in that people are getting tired of negative content and are trending to more positive news and are more likely to share it.
That sounds good for our blood pressure. But I hope there's also an uptick in tangible engagement.
Best Wisecrack video in a while. Keep it up. And bring back the "The Scene" videos, please.
As someone who is recovering from anger issues, I avoid engaging in online arguments. If someone says something that offends me, I screenshot it, add to my blacklist folder, and block them.
I'm gonna watch this video once a week cause I need the reminder
Your video is so interesting and informative. I immediately thought that I should use the information with my students. Thank you so much!
This was a good one. Thanks for putting it together.
I for once want to leave a nice comment. Love this channel, it's such a treasure for the internet. Hopefully it becomes less of a hidden treasure soon
Hidden treasure? This channel has 3,100,000 subscribers!
Your Dunning Kruger comment cracked me up!
“IM ANGRY JUST THINKING ABOUT IT!”
I tried to get OFF Facebook, but I use it to stay connected with various communities I'm a part of so I found that didn't particularly work. So instead, I'm scheduling days/times when I allow myself to use it and other days that I have to stay off it, and so far that's been SUPER helpful.
Anger is evolutionarily integrated inside us all just as this video showed in the beginning. It's no surprise it would be used to gain attention just as sex and fear have when you look at them as something that is instinctual. I often think one of our worst flaws as human beings is we are in denial that we are animals that have millions of years of instincts that drive us subconsciously. We will never rid ourselves of anger but our level of awareness is a unique trait we have and we should encourage awareness of what drives us over pointing fingers first in my mind. Understanding others is a fool's notion if you don't understand yourself in the first place. Know Thyself is a well-thought-out warning, not a platitude and its roots are ancient since this problem is ancient.
This is one of those interpretations of internet exchanges that seems to translate the issue in strictly psychological terms but there are objective reasons for people to be angry right now; anger isn't so much the issue as our inability to collectively deal with our problems due to the mind-numbing aspect of consumerism. So isolated anger that never results in anything constructive might be bad but if the problems don't go away then the negative emotions surely won't go away either.
Maybe someone should just shut down the entire internet for a few weeks just to see what happens, people might start out congregating for the sake of getting their internet back but it might lead to other things.
Recently revisited Brave New World. Then realized all of social media is "Soma". Using it, engaging with it... it is all contained fiction.
But taking Soma made people feel awesome and it had no negative side effects.
This episode was filled with very interesting observations and quotes by the exprerts !
You guys rock. Thank you so much for making content. Just got my best friend to sub after showing him your disney cult/religion episodes (he watched both back to back cus so good)
At around 2:00, that’s pretty much what I did with your Nope! video, saved it for when I could watch the movie, which I finally did, now I can safely enjoy it
you seem to be a great, very cool and impressive person/philosopher
please keep creating content
I got caught up in the tangential watching this: Are many of us ever taught how to handle or use the emotion of anger wisely?
When I was a kid, there was this undercurrent of teaching scapegoating. "The big problems in this town are because of the Natives, and if we got rid of them then we'd be fine."
As a teenager, I got the impression that anger was a justified reaction to an out of touch society. Hence all of that 90s angst.
And as an adult, all I see from this anger is a bunch of undisciplined chaos. Few seem to know what to do with themselves in a practical way. We just turn into a tornado or stew. Any problem left unresolved will linger, and I see a lot of clueless people online lingering, because they think that's all they can do. Granted, coming up with the right string of words can relieve you of your pain - that's why authors are paid the big bucks - but not many are going to get that good, and they think that's the only avenue they can take.
Anyways, thanks for the think.
Fascinating! Thanks!
Amazing video. Good job Choom
Social media the angry cesspool.
Cesspool? What’s that?
I'm really glad to see this, and especially the use of this rage cycle by social media platforms for profit. I've been talking to as many people as I can about this. I'd love to see people's focus shift from looking to social media platforms to regulate content and creators they find objectionable, to pressuring their elected leaders to finally regulate the way online tweak their algorithms. At this point, enough information has come out that we KNOW this is all intentional. Just like we don't let companies market addictive substances to minors, we can refuse to allow tech companies to use psychology and algorithms to intentionally damage our mental health for profit.
UA-cam has a function to save a video to a playlist called watch later. you don't even have to bookmark it. Mines full of Wisecrack videos for stuff Ive been meaning to watch. Like this video. Its been on my watch later for 3 days because of my need to watch things shortest to longest. And here I am driving engagement three minutes in before I even know where this video is going.
I like the intervals where he sounds like he's just speaking to me, in contrast to a scripted lecture rest of the time
One of the best videos lately
It's actually pretty worrying if a large percentage of people start feeling that expressing their genuine anger about injustice in online spaces is enough action, those in power will definitely exploit it for their benefit and screw everyone else in the process.
This certainly seems to be how current social justice and progressive movements operate, to be honest.
@@sastryvnk4402 It's difficult. I lean very much to the left on a lot of matters, but I can't say you're wrong.
I think most issues of social justice are very real and there are people who want to do something about it. But we live in a world riddled with off-ramps seeking to distract us. Or to give us a quick feeling of accomplishment.
At the same time I don't think it's solely the fault of organizers for these movements. Sometimes yes, not every social leader is selfless or sincere. But a lot of times they're struggling to engage with people by going to where their attention is. And like everyone else, they just try to chase what works.
Real life social clubs seem to be in a decline. Real life friendships seem to be in a decline. Somehow 'dating apps' are still a thing despite being by all indications tremendously unsuccessful and downright psychologically harmful for most of their user . . .
It's understandable how people would struggle to find traction for anything 'real' as it were.
I used to host a Drink and Draw meetup before COVID and I used the service 'Meetup'. It was well intention-ed. But the very reason for its existence is sort of messed up when I think about it.
"Pay 100+ dollars every six months to do a thing that used to be served by putting flyers up on the church/grocery store/community center cork board."
I cannot tell a lie.
I haven't been 100% crazy about "The Burns Era" of Wisecrack. But this particular video, evaluation, and philosophical connections thereof has been adequately insightful and fulfilling to the promises implied by the thumbnail and video title.
In short, well done.
I wonder if it can profits off some random Kierkegaard quote like dis: "my philosophy, therefore, has the advantageous characteristic of being brief and of being irrefutable, for if anyone disputes me, I daresay I have the right to declare him mad."
5:12 It looks like a child having a tantrum, but I raise ducks & it's also what momma's do if you pick up a baby, (like to save it from danger & return it to them) & it's hilarious. We call it "the stompies". They should put "frustration bongos" in that spot.
edit: 15:34 should have been the thumbnail.
Did you mean to put a lot of passive aggressive comments about what people say about you online? Because I love that lmao
I fondly remember Hot Takes, and found myself wondering why there wasn't more of it
topic of anger reminds me of peter slojterdjike's theroy of how anger is being misdirrected away from the elites... using the analogy of a bank.
Watched a Jordan Peterson critique video by Some More News. It was like 3 hours long, and was so gripping cos it really satisfied my need for some moral righteousness and anger as I agreed with the points. However I found the end so cathartic as it shifted from anger to sympathy and concern for Peterson. Maybe that’s a way to end the cycle of screaming? Concern for why people are the way they are? (Though it’s more than a little patronising to the person your being sympathetic to)
Next: How Anger Makes Social Media
SMASHING PUMPKINS REFERENCE! I HEARD IT. I APPRECIATE IT. I'M TYPING IN CAPITAL LETTERS SO THE ALGORITHM THINKS I'M MAD AND VIEWS YOUR CONTENT AS EXTREMELY ANGERING AND POLARIZING. I HOPE YOU GUYS HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND AND THAT THE ALGORITHM THINKS I'M REALLY ANGRY
Thank you for the Smashing Pumpkins reference. That made my day. Oh and also the well researched and informative video.
Need more hot takes from wise crack!!!
Please do a video on Severance (the Apple TV+ show)! Really interesting stuff on chopping up a person into different ontological pieces, asks lots of interesting questions.
I have had to repress my anger for as long I can remember and I'm sick of it I hate people genuinely by this point before it was discomfort
Hot Takes was a fun Wisecrack project, i really enjoyed it
yes! i miss those videos too
What a wonderful Smashing Pumpkins reference there in the end
The bit about advertising creating desire is well explored in Adam Curtis’s. “The Century of The Self.” Highly recommend.
Before I watch the video I hope it mentions the book "10 Arguments for Deleting your Social media account "
Edit: They did not, but you should read the book.
5:50, That's not autonomy; That's avoiding responsibility for your actions. Sure, being able to try what you want is a form of autonomy, but the lack of responsibility for choosing incorrectly (or correctly) is in addition to the autonomy of choice.
this explains a lot of media
I'm happy to see this video explaining the same thing I have been trying to tell people for years. Understanding this made me stop raging and getting in comment wars online. It made me stop worrying about if I was going to help someone completely change their mind and way they view life. Now I focus on stuff that will teach me something, make me laugh, or something involving sexy women with big ol booties. This changed my algorithm and my goals. Now I hit the gym regularly and am working on being more active in the real world.
I noticed this one when I tried Facebook again after a long socmed shutdown (because I'm so addicted to this back then that I can't finish my work.) so now everytime I open Facebook. I noticed that I start to get angry and my blood pressure rises up just from seeing a few post. So I immediately turns of fb and go back to work instead/or youtube. It's like a full of negative energy back there. And I still remember those days that I got on a heated argument on Facebook almost every week.
A Smashing Pumpkins reference. My day is complete.
Yep, that's about right. 😜 Posting this non-angry comment. Thanks for sharing!!
**looks back at the Dori VA drama on Twitter** Yep, that seems about right!
We have to admit the information everyone receives to some it becomes a faith that exceeds reason and debate.
Hot Takes was a great show. Bring it back!
1:45, I see that as a false choice, as the two are not mutually exclusive. The answer is probably some mixture of the two choices, and possibly other choices as well.
9:33, Lolol...Yeah...
I know I do this sometimes.
Fortunately ( . . . finally) I stopped doing that. Social media makes me sad. As a British philosopher once said, "Anger is an energy". Now that you mention it. I don't get angry so much anymore. I get upset. I get sad but angry? Not so much (I stopped working at a horrible, horrible job 8 years go. I wonder if it's related?). Also, I am less moral than some others.
Love ya Mike. One of the few guys who can so eloquently put across controversial topics and still make me laugh. Here's me clinking a virtual beer to you.
Here I am just thankful someone remembers "The Slap" TV show. I swear, I thought that was a fever dream. No one knows what I'm talking about when I bring it up 😂.
Sweet Pumpkins reference there 🤘
5:09 This is how the writers of Goblet of Fire read that line from Dumbledore 😂
Jokes on them, social media doesn't make me angry, just very, very sad!
Despair
It makes me fire a deuce out of my stink wrinkle.
i like the subtle dry humor sprinkled everywhere in the video
and this is why i usually try to open with agreement in arguments. helps me 1: see the obvious turnarounds they might be setting up 2: go in with a cool head, and 3: have the other person come in with the intent of teaching rather then defending. if there's nothing i can agree on, i can ask a question instead. usually philosophical or generally non political. that way i can leave with something to sit on, maybe agree on a little, and if i see a similar argument, i can bring up what i agree with that might have been lost in translation (stuff like political jargon, or inside logic). that's not to say i don't defend what i believe in, but doing it passively makes both me and the person who opened with their thoughts more likely to keep talking. its how i managed to keep at least a few republican friends, even though we both pretty much disagreed on everything.
we stan michael burns videos
Love the mini-rant about the spoiler warning.
This video hit way too hard, I feel like I need to go take a nap.
This is actually why I deleted my facebook recently.
*(& had never joined twitter to begin with)*
I grew up in Amsterdam. I recognize a Hard Drug when I see it.
15:30 and don't forget the classic "Kevin McAllister" thumbnail pose
Anyone else remember that fun video short "The Slap 2"?
the wolf you feed wins... I used to be angry at everything and everyone. It made me feel strong and in control. But I didn't actually solve anything, because I was mostly angry when something was outside of my control. So I started correlating anger with impotence. Now, it's not like I don't get angry at all, anymore. But I certainly don't go around looking for reasons to be angry in order to feel good
I try to actively stop myself when im typing out those kinds of comments, I try to interact positively and focus on the people who seem to be asking genuine questions about a topic or seem earnestly confused then those who just wanna cause anger.
I love/hate social media.
My girlfriend threw away my thesaurus. And i am ANGRY. I've never felt so ANGRY and ANGRY about being ANGRY that I don't have a book that can teach me another word for ANGRY and I'm ANGRY about it!
“Weedwhacker” was top tier
Falling into a seemingly endless cycle of rage tweeting? Sigh, yeah, count me in as guilty as charged. That was very much me from 2015 to end of 2020. It consumed me. Much of my rage tweeting was a way to vent into a hurricane. Deep down I knew what I tweeted didn’t matter one bit. If fact, some people who knew me IRL would tell me over DM or offline that they had to stop following me because I was being too much. I took it in stride but kept at it. It got worse because it ended up controlling how I used my time through each day. I didn’t immediately snap out of it. It took a lot of time and many, many false starts to realize how bad it was getting. How it was making me so utterly miserable to be around myself. In the last year I’ve been doing much better. With a lot of desperate self control, I don’t really tweet. I still use Twitter but I’ve drastically limited who I follow and what I read. And if I do feel a twinge of rage, I tell myself to calm down, take a few deep breathes, and move on. There are days when I wish Twitter would just burn to the ground even while I’m using it. Weird, I know. Not sure how many others out there have gone through a similar journey or are still going through the motions trying to stop. It’s not pleasant or easy. Hopefully this gives some people solace that you’re not alone and that you can work on getting better
This is why I'm not on fb anymore...
it does on many levels.. for better or worse. i think you should do whats the meaning behind cracked character Roger.
6:43 can actually trace “hot takes” further back to mid 2000s with Jim Rome
Self righteous anger pisses me off.
I plan on fixing this.
Can you please post sources in the description of the articles you reference?