You claim to hate it. You cannot stop watching.
Scroll through your feed. A video appears. You do not like it. You do not agree with it. You find it annoying, stupid, offensive. You watch it anyway. Watch it to the end. Watch it twice.
This is normal now. People spend hours watching content they claim to hate. Influencers they despise. Accounts that make them angry. Opinions that infuriate them. They consume what they claim to reject.
Explanation is simple. Hate is engaging. Anger is addictive. Outrage keeps you watching. Platforms know this. They feed you what you hate because you will not look away. Your attention is the product. Your hatred is the fuel.
Anger Feels Like Purpose
Anger feels like something. Active. Alive. Not boredom. Not indifference. Not numbness of endless scrolling. A feeling. Real feeling. Makes you feel like you are doing something. You are not. You are just watching.
Outrage triggers a response. Adrenaline. Cortisol. Rush of energy. Alert. Engaged. Alive. Fades quickly. Need more. Scroll for more. Find more. Watch more. Hate more. Cycle never ends.
Disguised Comfort
Hate is comfortable. Easier than understanding. Easier than empathy. Easier than nuance. Hate is clear. You know what you think. Know what they think. Know who is right. Know who is wrong. Clarity is relief. Relief is a trap.
You watch what you hate because it confirms who you are. You are not them. Better. Smarter. More reasonable. Content reinforces your identity. Tells you who you are not. Tells you who you are. Comfort is seductive. Comfort is empty.
Illusion of Effort
Watching feels like doing. It is not. You are not changing anything. Not persuading anyone. Not making a difference. Just watching. Just consuming. Just feeding the machine.
Illusion is powerful. Feel engaged. Feel informed. Feel righteous. None of those things. Just an audience. Just a viewer. Just a number. A view. A click. A metric.
What You Lose
Cost is not just time. Your mood. Your outlook. Your view of the world. Consume hate. Become hateful. See world as full of people you despise. See world as full of content that enrages you. World is not that. Your feed is. You made it that way.
Cost is also your attention. Spend it on things you hate. Spend it on things that enrage you. Spend it on things that drain you. Not on things you love. Not on things that matter. Spend it on hate. Get nothing in return.
Exit You Keep Avoiding
You can stop. Scroll past. Ignore. Choose what you consume. Choose what you give your attention to. Choose what you let into your head.
You will not. Too easy. Too comfortable. Too addictive. Keep watching what you hate. Keep feeding the machine. Keep giving your attention to things that drain you.
Exit is yours. You just have to take it.
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