AN EMERGING BODY of work suggests that media outlets, finely tuned to capitalize on our emotions, are affecting how we feel about every aspect of our lives.

Outrage is certainly proliferating. It's an attention-grabbing emotion that pushes engagement, which makes it easy to exploit by social media and news outlets. A 2018 Pew Research survey found social media users are most often amused online, but nearly as often, they experience anger; the same survey found that 59 percent of users frequently saw other people online looking for opportunities to start arguments.

Indeed, fury is thriving in the current media landscape, argues Tufts University sociologist Sarah Sobieraj, co-author of the 2014 book, "The Outrage Industry." In the scramble for listeners and clicks, vitriol sells, and sells, and sells. "Things that give you a strong emotional reaction are pretty effective [at attracting attention]," she says. "So yes: Anger, fear, moral indignation, these types of things are the news equivalents of what we see in the entertainment industry - sex and violence."

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