Screaming Into the Void

Today's social media is about who reacts the fastest and the loudest. Emotion is the driver of human behavior. Increased polarization combined with the connectivity and instantaneity of social media makes it easy for us to fall into cycles of outrage. This phenomenon is wired into our psychological mechanisms of reward. We feel good when we fire off on others, and even more so when others support and share our outrage. Cycles of outrage fuel quick and hostile judgments that lead to ill-informed statements and the creation of ineffective, even harmful, narratives.

Outrage inspires outrage. On social media, outrage and emotion are great at spreading a message but ineffective in inciting change. If our goal is to persuade others to empathize, learn, and change their ideas, we need to fight our human nature of outrage.

"In a study that William has conducted with Jay Van Bavel, he found that tweets without a moral and emotional tone were better able to start conversations between people from different political persuasions. In some ways, this makes intuitive sense. When was the last time you changed your mind because someone screamed at you?" (from the podcast)

This is a podcast that everyone should listen to and seek to understand and incorporate into their habits of engagement and conversation.