October 8, 2025
I can’t recall which program I was watching on
television a week or so ago, when I heard something that made me literally sit
up and take notice.
Now, usually over the course of my week, I tend to
take an hour or so in my living room each day about midday, to put my feet up
and rest. Feet up because, having arthritis it serves me well to elevate my
legs after having had them down for several hours. Rest, because despite
the fact that I am indeed seventy-one, I can’t seem to fall asleep if I go to
bed and try to have a structured afternoon nap.
However, if I put my television on and assume the
position in my recliner, I have no trouble dozing off, here and there, for a
few minutes at a time over the length of the program.
And it was at this point one day during the past week
when, drifting in my chair, I heard these words: “social media sites have
figured out there is one thing better than sex for click bait, and that is rage.”
For me, hearing that statement was an epiphanous moment.
I had noticed lately, as I scrolled each evening
through YouTube a number of videos which are similar in composition to short
stories. I realize these stories are works of fiction, and because I do, I
don’t for one minute consider that they represent reality or real-life events. And
sometimes if the scenario that the title presents hooks me, I’ll click on the
videos, provided they’re not too long.
Friends, I will confess here and now that while I
thought I knew what I was getting into, I was wrong. These weren’t just a way
for an aspiring writer to become “published” (which was my first thought).
These stories generally present a situation where injustice occurs; and in the
course of the story, on the surface at least, justice is redeemed. A happy
ending in a few short minutes, and the romance writer in me couldn’t resist
that.
It did take me a few clicks, and a few reads to
understand that perhaps the author of these “short stories” might have another
purpose beyond creating a simple short story. I began to get a clue when I
realized something. As appealing as a short story about injustice being redeemed
might be, the method of that redemption read, just a little, like hate.
It took that statement that defined that notion of
stirring up rage as click bait and realized it made the puzzle pieces of my
emotions fall into place. One thing I had noticed was that while the story did
represent an injustice redeemed, it also, mildly, invoked anger in me. And that
was closer to the point of the whole exercise than any of my other impressions
of the story.
These videos all had the same “moral”. The solutions
to the injustices tended to have a very real sense of “how do you like them
apples, asshole?” about them.
That pseudo-revenge answer to a wrong—at least in my
belief—is not healthy. Not emotionally (in the long run), and not morally.
Oh yes, reading those stories can give you a moment of
“feeling good”, especially if the injustice you read about did stir your ire;
but the “feel good” is only a temporary fix, and when it wears off, you want
more—because while the feel-good was fleeting, the “anger/rage” elements of the
story lingered. In other words, you want a bigger and badder piece of revenge.
Soon, the anger one feels can turn to rage, and
friends? Rage is a the very least as addictive as any narcotic or alcohol or
other substance or experience you can name.
Rage, constantly fed, can lead to violence. Oh, no, they
won’t actually urge you to commit violence yourself, not at first. But they
will, over time, serve you more and more examples of others using violence to
stomp those bastards into the dust, and man, does that ever feel good when they
do!
Other than bringing an end to social media (one could
almost term that an act of violence), the only solution to the problem
presented by these algorithms that seem to be in service of folks whom we do
not know, that I can think of. And that solution is discernment.
I’m usually very discerning in my “surfing” habits,
but this caught me off guard. So let me tell you what I told myself: what I see
such as these videos, and all the things that show up in my “feed”, are
informed by my viewing habits. I must therefore be very careful, not only what
I am watching, but what sites I am going to.
Whenever I see something that raises a flag, I first
look to see who or what the provider/poster/contributor is. A little research
will show you, soon enough, if you’re looking at a good actor, or some sort of
automated bot. And here’s a clue: bots are woefully unskilled in grammar.
And now if you’ll excuse me, I’m about to google a
copious number of laughing babies, funny memes, and baby goats.
Love,
Morgan
http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury
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