JC2535 t1_j1qa3q5 wrote on December 26, 2022 at 3:22 PM

Polarization = Profit$!

Creating intense sports rivalries and brand loyalty among Democrats VS Republicans is good for the bottom line for the media.

We live in the age of Angertainment.

We’re not doing anything to stop it. Nobody is going to do anything to stop it.

Destabilization is baked into the business model. The shareholders don’t want it to change, and certainly the company management team doesn’t want it to change.

That effectively leaves us at a perpetual state of uncertainty and impending doom- from which a small number of people will get very rich.

SnarkOff t1_j1t5sa7 wrote on December 27, 2022 at 4:51 AM

I wrote my masters thesis on this topic! Media that has a subscription business model leads to better civic outcomes. Media that runs on ads is incentivized to elicit extreme emotions.

ghostdancesc t1_j1sokv0 wrote on December 27, 2022 at 2:18 AM

Angertainment I’ve never heard that before, but it’s perfect. Real House wives, news media, etc…

Telandria t1_j1u4a5w wrote on December 27, 2022 at 12:11 PM

Yeah, this 100%. Was talking with a couple friends about this very thing at lunch yesterday. About how social media companies have learned that the angrier people are, the higher the engagement number get, which means more ads pushed and thus more profit for them, so they deliberately work to foster the whole echo chamber mentality and then push those people together to make the sparks fly.

I seriously doubt the polarization thing is going away anytime soon. Not until something fundamental about these companies changes.