Rage bait? It’s enough to make you..
‘Rage bait’ has been named by Oxford University Press as this year’s Word of the Year, beating other online terms. The group behind the Oxford English Dictionary says the term is a noun which describes online content “deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage” to boost traffic or engagement. You might be asking – isn’t that two words? The publisher says it’s not tricking you, and adds that it’s one word when used as a hyphenated compound phrase. Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages, said that “the fact that the word rage bait exists and has seen such a dramatic surge in usage means we’re increasingly aware of the manipulation tactics we can be drawn into online”. He added: “Before, the internet was focused on grabbing our attention by sparking curiosity in exchange for clicks, but now we’ve seen a dramatic shift to it hijacking and influencing our emotions, and how we respond. 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.” What does ‘rage bait’ mean? Online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive,
