Are We Addicted to Outrage?
Are We Addicted to Outrage?  
Podcast: The Overthinkers
Published On: Mon Sep 07 2026
Description: Are we addicted to outrage? Why does everyone seem so angry? Is social media making us angrier or making us overperceive our anger? And if we are angrier, is that a good thing because we have so much to be angry about? Nathan Clarkson and Joseph Holmes discuss the theories and science behind outrage culture on the latest episode of The Overthinkers. References and resources Do most Americans think politics is worse today? https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/09/19/americans-feelings-about-politics-polarization-and-the-tone-of-political-discourse/ Does negativity drive news consumption? https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01538-4 Does high emotion drive news consumption? https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1509/jmr.10.0353 Does tribal signalling drive engagement? https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8256037 Does moral grandstanding increase status? https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/papa.12075 Does status seeking predict outrage? https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6795490/ Do we overestimate how much outrage there is? https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01582-0? Does social media amplify outrage? https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8363141/ Is outrage good?: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37000374/ Websites The Overthinkers: theoverthinkersjournal.world Nathan Clarkson: nathanclarkson.me Joseph Holmes: linktr.ee.com/josephholmes