Take a break from digital outrage

I’ve never been known to shy away from outrage. Pick a subject, any subject, and I can probably work myself into a lather over it. Once, I was even asked if I was outraged over the birth of quintuplets at a hospital in Ottawa. 

It happened on Morningside, a popular 1980’s radio program in my country. Once a month, I was invited to share non-political local stories from my nation’s capital with the host, Peter Gzowski. That day, I was suffering from a bad head cold, but insisted anyway on doing my regular spot. The birth of quintuplets was the third story in the lineup but by the time we got to it, I’d spent ten minutes ranting about the first two in a miserable, croaky, and very cranky voice. When it came to my final story, Gzowski (a Canadian broadcasting legend by the way) just couldn’t resist asking: 

“And how about those quints, Robin? Are you outraged about them too?”

I was too mortified to feel outrage. 

From that embarrassing exchange, however, came a perennial New Year’s vow to try to live an outrage-free year. (Like most of my resolutions, it’s usually broken before New Year’s Day is over.) But hope springs eternal. 

With the recent conclusion to our election campaign here in Canada and a temporary pause in Trump’s tariff nonsense, I’m determined to break away—again—from feeling outraged all the time because of what I read on line. It’s been an exhausting ride on an emotional rollercoaster. 

It’s not as simple as just turning off my phone. I’m not going to suddenly look away from my screen just because I know it’s bad for my mental health (and my blood pressure too). I’m simply not built that way. I have an addictive personality. I was hooked the moment I puffed on my first cigarette as a teenager and blithely became addicted to something I knew was harmful to me. 

The Internet is my pack of cigarettes, the one I might throw away one day but go back to buying the next. It’s not just happening to me, either. The Internet in general and social media in particular has proven to be a powerful trigger for addictive personalities of all shapes, sizes, beliefs, and predilections. Addiction was by design, after all. Negative emotions (and outrage qualifies as one) are fueled deliberately and amplified by algorithms across all platforms. Like any drug, the purpose is to provide a rush or a ‘high’ to its user. 

Congratulations, Internet, you win.

From the hit of instant gratification that comes from the likes, shares and comments from a post oozing with outrage, digital addicts are getting exactly what they are seeking: a rush of dopamine. As comments come in, primarily from one’s own echo chamber, a feedback loop is born. Social validation is very seductive to addictive personalities, encouraging the poster to continue engaging in outrageous fashion. Now, throw compulsive tendencies into the mix. They lead to users constantly checking for fresh provocations (or even better, followers) on their feeds, in the same way that addicts repeatedly engage in bad behavior.

There was once a good reason for outrage but that time has long since passed.

“In small tribal societies, the mechanism of venting anger served a functional role in enforcing group norms and promoting cooperation,” writes the British psychologist David Cycleback on his Substack column about the origin of outrage. 

“In the digital age, it has been hijacked by social media algorithms that capitalize on our emotional responses for profit…The Internet does not reward calm debate. It rewards emotion, particularly outrage. This creates a cycle where outrage becomes not just a reaction but a stimulus people seek.”  

Then there’s the moral tone to the outrage. “It feels good to think you’re so right and everyone else is so wrong,” writes David Brin, an American scientist, futurist and author. Feeling morally superior is just another form of addiction that releases endorphins, say social scientists like Brin.

Dr. Molly Crockett of Yale University, the most prolific and well-known of researchers studying the psychology of moral outrage, has concluded that the human brain actually rewards its owner for punishing other people with outrage. “We’re really motivated to punish people who have transgressed moral norms,” believes Crockett. 

“And if moral outrage is a fire, the Internet is like gasoline.”

Digital minimalism can create a more balanced relationship with technology. It’s been proven to lead to healthier emotional responses and reduces the tendency for digital outrage. But first, you have to do the work. I’m ready and willing. Wish me luck. Again.