Bait.

Let’s say most of us navigating social media are fish. In this illustration, social media is the body of water we’re all swimming around in. Let’s also establish that the predator/prey ecosystem relies on the economy of mental health. That’s what’s at stake and that’s your resource up for grabs.

The trick, the lure, the BAIT to catch your mental health is time. The longer you stay on that fucking app, the more fish in that pool, the more predators, the more time they suck, the better to sell you down the river.

Sadly, the way to get people to spend more time on the app is with negativity. People are more likely to engage with something that provokes their anger. Negativity attracts negativity and some folks thrive on that shit because they’re energy vampires. They’ve learned that if they can catch flies with honey, they sure as hell can with shit.

Post shit = flies = engagement + followers = Happy Energy Vampire.

I saw it in real time yesterday. A brand new account on Threads posted their very first thread.

This is what we call “rage bait” and it’s not posted by accident. This is very intentional. A brand-new account with that much engagement is unheard of. If a bookish account popped on the first time, tapped the mic, and typed, “Is this thing on? I just read a book I loved called blah blah blah.”

It would be crickets. Maybe one or two readers would chime in…someone normal like me or you, “Hey, welcome! I love that book too.”

But if you want to make a splash, post the word “controversial” and say something polarizing that people fight over all the time. Tell people what to do. Police behavior. Flex your hot take. Piss people off. I see it all the time and I mute, restrict, or block every single one of them and I don’t care who they are. Rage bait signals BIG RED FLAGS. Even if you think you “know” someone, a “friend” that you met online, a mutual that you’ve been following for years, if they police other people’s behavior or start shit online, pick fights, promote negativity, always seem to insert themselves in online drama, or passive/aggressively flex on people with “well actually” or “for your information” “just a little PSA” this signals to you some red flags you might want to steer clear of if you’re looking to curate your social media experience and protect your mental health. If you’re having a bad day or emotionally weak and a mutual (someone you follow and they follow you) shares a hot take (their own or just re-shares one from a different account and engages with it) you could get sucked into something that will take up more time than you are willing to give and cost you something you didn’t want to pay (valuable mental health).

So many of us rely on social media for a variety of reasons. It’s important to make sure it’s working FOR you and not AGAINST you. So my pro tip for you today is to liberally block, mute, and restrict mutuals addicted to bait.

xx

Sadie

ceceliahotzlerdesign

A post shared by @ceceliahotzlerdesign