In the era of social media if you do not know this word, well then you are not in this world!
I did not know this till yesterday when it came in the NYT crossword!
I thought it was some new word and later found out that it was the Oxford University Press word of the year 2025!
The word is called RAGE BAIT!
Now now, do not get upset (or get into a RAGE!) if you did not know the word! You still experience it day to day! You just did not know that it is what it is!
There is still hope for you and me!
Coming back to some free knowledge so that you look tech savvy and at least do not fumble when you solve the NYT crossword!
So Rage bait is online content created specifically to provoke anger, outrage, or strong negative emotions to drive engagement (likes, comments, shares) and traffic, often for financial gain!
It exploits psychological vulnerabilities, using deliberately offensive, frustrating, or polarizing material to keep users scrolling and interacting, even if the interaction is hostile!
The fact here is that the content is not accidental! It is designed to offend or challenge beliefs or cause intentional provocation!
It also aims to bypass rational thought and trigger strong emotional responses like anger and moral outrage! Then again finally in the age of social media; any publicity is good!
The end intent is to get comments, shares, and views, which algorithms boost, increasing visibility and revenue!
The whole idea is that it thrives on creating division, making users feel they must take a side! For the ‘young’ it can be a take on intentionally bad art or music while for the ‘older’ generation it is usually a misleading political or religious statement!
We all fall for it time and again!
This is not trolling or click bait though!
Rage bait and trolling both provoke strong negative emotions online, but rage bait is content specifically engineered to maximize engagement.
In contrast, trolling is a broader term for deliberately upsetting people for personal amusement, causing drama, or disruption, and may not always have a clear monetization goal like rage bait does, though they overlap significantly!
Finally you have the CLICKBAIT which I was aware of! (some hope for me after all!)
So Clickbait uses curiosity or mystery to get clicks! Lile many times how I start my blogs! That is a very obvious click bait!
The premise and intent though is not the same!
Click baits targets your Curiosity while Anger is the target for Rage Bait!
Clickbait though often relies on misleading titles while Rage bait can use truthful but manipulated content to provoke outrage!
Finally Clickbait leads to a click while Rage bait keeps you on the page arguing in the comments!
In short Clickbait can take you somewhere while Rage bait keeps you angry and in the same place!
Like how acting by Neeraj Vora can baiy you and keep you hooked!
Now stop clicking links and sleep!
Shubh ratri!
ramadocblog 