"According to the Oxford University Press' analysis, use of the phrase has tripled in the past 12 months. It defines it as online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular webpage or social media content. Casper Grathwohl, the president of Oxford Languages, said its very existence showed how aware people were becoming of the manipulation tactics used to grab their attention online."
"It feels like the natural progression in an ongoing conversation about what it means to be human in a tech-driven world and the extremes of online culture. He said that, where last year's choice brain rot captured the mental drain of endless scrolling, rage bait' shines a light on the content purposefully engineered to spark outrage and drive clicks. The two together, Grathwohl said, form a powerful cycle where outrage sparks engagement, algorithms amplify it, and constant exposure leaves us mentally exhausted."
Oxford University Press named 'rage bait' as word of the year after usage tripled over the past 12 months. Rage bait is defined as online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive, typically posted to increase traffic or engagement on webpages and social media. The term signals growing awareness of manipulation tactics that hijack emotions rather than merely spark curiosity for clicks. Rage bait and last year's word 'brain rot' together illustrate a cycle where outrage drives engagement, algorithms amplify content, and constant exposure contributes to mental exhaustion. The term originated online in 2002 on Usenet.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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