A field guide to engineered outrage in the attention economy. Learn to see the strings that turn your anger into their engagement.
That white-hot flash of irritation when someone pours nacho cheese onto a kitchen counter. The eye-twitch when a "productivity guru" says you're failing because you don't wake up at 4 AM. The urge to type "THIS IS WRONG" when someone cooks pasta in milk.
That reaction isn't accidental. It's engineered.
Content creators have mastered the art of manufacturing outrage. They know exactly which psychological buttons to push to make you watch, comment, and share. This book shows you how it works.
See through the tactics that hijack your attention
Why food crimes go viral. The psychology behind sink salads, counter cheese, and deliberately disgusting recipes.
How relationship content weaponizes gender, money, and identity to pit groups against each other for engagement.
The hustle culture grift. Why 4 AM morning routines and passive income lies are designed to make you feel inadequate.
Staged Karens, fake philanthropy, and intentional inconvenience. Content that violates unspoken social contracts.
The technical tricks. How creators exploit your correction impulse and the platform's own mechanics against you.
Once you understand the playbook, you'll never scroll the same way again. Take back control of your attention.
A complete taxonomy of engineered outrage
A taste of what's inside
You've seen it. You've felt it. That white-hot flash of irritation when someone pours an entire gallon of nacho cheese onto a kitchen counter. Congratulations. You've been rage-baited.
This book is not a moral treatise. It's a blueprint. A taxonomy. A field guide to every psychological lever, every tribal nerve, and every algorithmic loophole that content creators exploit to turn your fleeting annoyance into their permanent engagement.
Why does rage bait work? The answer is embarrassingly simple: you can't look away from a car crash.
Neuroscience tells us that negative emotions are processed faster and remembered longer than positive ones. Social media algorithms have learned that content triggering strong negative reactions keeps you on the platform longer. A "like" is nice. A "THIS IS DISGUSTING" comment with a 47-reply thread? That's algorithmic gold.
By the end of this book, you'll see the strings. And once you see the strings, you have a choice: get angry anyway, or simply scroll on.
Either way, the algorithm wins.
Get the complete guide to engineered outrage.