The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age

'Angertainers' are dividing society: Author Ed Coper explains why we fall for 'rage bait'

Social media was once harnessed by Barack Obama to spread hope. Now “angertainers” are exploiting our human instinct to seek threat to divide society and to build their own cultural, political and social capital, often based on misinformation and lies. They create content for platforms that reward stunts, insults and anger – in the process, distorting reality and hijacking any possibility of a considered debate. In this episode of Good Weekend Talks, Ed Coper, author of Angertainment: How Social Media Outrage Ruined Everything, explains how and why that happens, why you can't stop clicking on things that make you angry – and what we can all do about it. This conversation is hosted by Good Weekend senior writer Greg Callaghan. See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.