One of the core concepts we have returned to regularly in our diagnostic writing about this cultural moment is that online networks have supplanted in-person institutions as the dominant forms of social belonging for most of our neighbors. One of the problems that follows from this is that online networks actually are better at spreading negative emotions than positive emotions. We are more incentivized to act online when we encounter content that makes us feel rage, fear, anxiety, and so on as opposed to when we encounter content that causes us to feel content, calm, or happy.
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