Podcast Summary: "Internet bad"

Podcast: Today, Explained (Vox)
Air Date: January 4, 2026
Hosts: Jacqueline (J.Q.) Hill, Sean Rameswaram, Noel King
Featured Guests: Craig Silverman, Max Reed, Nick Plant, Jimmy Wales

Episode Overview

This episode delves into the changing emotional landscape of the Internet, with a particular focus on the rise of "rage bait"—content designed specifically to provoke outrage and engagement. The hosts and guests unpack the history of online communities, the current dominance of emotionally manipulative algorithms, and grassroots efforts to create healthier digital habits. Together, they ask: Was the Internet always destined to become this way, and is it possible to revive its kinder, weirder glory days?

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Rage Bait: The Engine of Today's Internet

• Definition & Examples:

  • Rage bait refers to intentionally provocative content crafted to elicit strong (often angry) emotional responses.
  • Jacqueline Hill notes bizarre food videos ("grandma’s famous McDonald's casserole" or unsanitary kitchen hacks) are designed for shock, not usefulness.
  • Craig Silverman: "Rage bait to me is, in a way, kind of like an engine that makes the Internet work in some ways." (01:18)

• Impact:

  • Both sides of an issue (those enraged and those amused) watch and engage, fueling the system either way.
  • Outrage is now a tool for marketing and business growth.

• Memorable Quote:

  • Craig Silverman: "It's been figured out that the more I can create content that gets a very powerful and often enraged emotional reaction, the more power I have potentially over people." (02:04)

2. The Breadth of Rage Bait: From Dating Drama to AI-Generated Outrage

• Genres Affected:
  • Dating content, cringe compilations, public prank streamers, and increasingly, political outrage all exploit this dynamic.
  • Streamers with bodyguards antagonize random people for content: "Like, the dude is walking around... he just does really offensive, gross, obnoxious things...and is like, hiding literally behind the bodyguards." (03:02, Craig Silverman)
• Manufactured Controversy:
  • Companies, not just individuals, now weaponize rage bait (example: Clulee, an app for cheating in coding interviews marketed to provoke outrage).
  • AI-generated fake classroom confrontations flood social engines with staged viral moments.

3. Algorithmic Incentives and the “Flattening” of Discovery

• Monetization of Rage:
  • "App entrepreneurs and tech entrepreneurs...talking about how this is the way to get customers...this is the way to build your business." (04:50, Craig Silverman)
• Feelings of Diminished Joy & Serendipity:
  • Jacqueline Hill reflects that the old Internet felt expansive and full of surprise.
  • Craig Silverman: "Because so much of it is mediated by these systems and algorithms... it flattens it out. You end up in your timeline...getting fed a lot of the same stuff...rage, bait, brain rot." (08:39)

4. The Rise of Algorithm-Driven Feeds

• The News Feed Revolution:
  • The introduction of Facebook’s News Feed in 2006 marked a paradigm shift:
    • Initially hated, but user engagement soared.
    • "The feed has become the paradigm for how we engage with the Internet ever since." (14:54, Max Reed)
• TikTok and the For You Page (FYP):
  • TikTok further consolidated the "anti-social" Internet: viral strangers, not friends, define your feed.
  • Max Reed: "The other change...was TikTok introducing the FYP...an anti-social Internet that we're on now." (15:45)
• Metrics vs. Meaningful Experience:
  • Platforms interpret time spent as enjoyment, though users’ qualitative experiences aren't always positive.
  • Jacqueline Hill: "Are we conflating time spent and liking a thing?" (16:18)

5. Could the Internet Have Turned Out Differently?

• Wikipedia as a Positive Outlier:
  • Wikipedia demonstrates a massive, essential, and (relatively) healthy online project.
  • Jimmy Wales: "The core aim of the Wikimedia Foundation is to get a free encyclopedia to every single person on the planet." (18:00)
  • Culture and mission matter; Wikipedia’s selfless, frictive, volunteer ethos insulated it from decline seen elsewhere.
• Contrast with Mega Platforms:
  • Silicon Valley’s lack of values like selflessness and community is seen as a factor in toxicity.

6. Generational Shifts and Digital Disenchantment

• Millennial Nostalgia, New Generations:
  • Millennials who grew up on the Internet now feel sidelined and disconnected from its current forms.
  • Max Reed: "Millennials like us, we were the protagonists of the Internet for a really long time... we're not the protagonists anymore." (18:38)
  • The Internet is now globally scaled, filled with content that’s often not for any one group.
• Advice for the Disillusioned:
  • "The best you can do is retreat to your group chats." (19:52)

7. Digital Resistance: The Delete Day Movement

• Grassroots Efforts to Disconnect:

  • Nick Plant (25) describes organizing Delete Day, where nearly 100 people gathered to delete social apps in public as an act of reclamation.
  • Not just a critique—Plant has given up his smartphone and major platforms, even returning to snail mail and group-written zines for community and connection.

• Memorable Moments:

  • "It was a really electric kind of moment where everyone was deleting, people were getting up and...shouting the apps they were getting off...Instagram, TikTok, Twitter. I actually still had a LinkedIn myself...So I decided I was gonna do [that]." (21:03, Nick Plant)

• Restoring Discovery & Serendipity:

  • Plant finds analog life brings back serendipity and depth:
    • Open invites for IRL meetups.
    • Snail mail projects.
    • Learning to be present and content without a constant barrage of digital novelty.
  • "You actually find that you do truly get a bunch of time back when you quit." (24:17, Nick Plant)

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• Craig Silverman on the state of digital content:

  • "Rage bait is kind of the currency or the power that's behind a lot of the content we might see." (02:04)

• Jacqueline Hill on digital nostalgia:

  • "It feels like the Internet used to be this place where you could discover anything. There have always been dark corners of it, don't get me wrong. But...it felt like there were a lot more options." (08:17)

• Max Reed on generational change:

  • "We are old...we're not the protagonists anymore. And some of that is aging out. Some of that is there are people who are even more raised by the Internet than we were..." (18:38)

• Nick Plant on unplugged discovery:

  • "[Leaving the smartphone behind,] everything I was experiencing...I just felt it more. It felt like more." (26:12)

Key Timestamps

• Rage bait defined/food content shift: 00:36–01:42
• Political and AI-generated rage bait: 03:50–06:53
• Role of algorithms and platform rollbacks: 07:12–09:18
• Nostalgia for the old Internet: 11:15–12:46
• Rise of News Feed and algorithmic Internet: 14:00–16:18
• Wikipedia as exception: 17:00–18:29
• Millennial aging-out and group chat retreat: 18:29–19:52
• Delete Day and analog connection: 20:22–24:57
• Serendipitous life offline: 25:13–27:38

Takeaways

• The current Internet is shaped by algorithms favoring engagement at any cost, often generating and rewarding outrage.
• While toxic incentives and professionalized content have changed the landscape, exceptions like Wikipedia demonstrate that scale and decency don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
• Young activists are now reclaiming their digital lives through analog strategies and intentional community, seeking the serendipity and depth many now miss.
• The Internet may not return to its earlier form, but pockets of resistance and creative adaptation offer hope—and group chats endure.

End of summary.