[EGreg]

A news and celebrity pundit industry that operates in a capitalist fashion has companies that employ people. They have a profit motive and face market competition. This shapes their behavior. News organizations that tell both sides of a story do not provoke the sensationalism and outrage that news organizations which tell only one side. So they don’t get shared as much.

The market literally selects for more one sided clickbaity outrage articles.

Meanwhile social networks compete for your attention and “engagement” for clicks on ads so their algorithms will show you the stories that are the most outrageous and put you in an echo chamber.

It’s not some accident. It’s by design.

If we were ok with slowing down the news and running it like Wikipedia with a talk page, peer review, byzantine consensus, whatever you want to call it — concentric circles where people digest what happens and the public gets a balanced view that is based on collaboration rather than competition with a profit motive - our society would be less divided and more informed.

Also, Apple and Google should start charging for notifications, with an exception for real-time calls and self-selected priority channels/contacts signing the notification payload. The practically free notifications creates a tragedy of the commons and ruins our dinners!