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Why do people fell for bullshit news websites tricks? (programming.dev)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I saw the same thing happen twice already.

Once with Lugi and the other with Tesla. Websites see the traffic that their news bring, so they dedicate 55% and more of their website to cover them in the most dumb way possible.

How many articles do we need about Tesla cars being destroyed or vandalized? At a certain stage it becomes silly and more importantly, the websites covering them is a capitalist websites who would not give a shit about this topics if it did not bring them money.

My question is not about the websites, my question is about the people who read and share their articles, why do they do that? How do they fell for this over and over?

Just to be clear, I am not talking about the articles who deliver new info about the event, I am specifically talking about the article that keep recycling the same info without adding anything new or even offer a new analysis. (The Verge for example)

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

I imagine people share these for 3 reasons.

People encounter information at different times. Sure you’ve seen the article but someone else hasn’t (although for popular topics, this likely become near zero quickly enough)
People want to signal to their group that they are in the group. Why do people share anything with their little opinions attached. In part it’s so that they can cement their place in their tribe. Democrats or republicans or anything else, you are supposed to be angry about the things that anger your tribe and happy about the things that please your tribe.
Anxiety. Our brains are sorta wired for “stress -> action -> relief” cycles. We survive because we encounter a stressor, take some action to address it, and are then relieved of that stressor. Feel hunger, eat food, feel better. The current world has many stressors that can’t be meaningfully impacted in an individual level. You can read an article about something that outrages you or highlights an injustice you believe is occurring, but then there is no action to take. So sharing becomes an effective action substitute. Did it solve anything? Nope, but your brain doesn’t care, it’s just happy you took some sort of action.