The bustling negativity economy has taken over our homes (see TikTok’s girl with the list), our dogs (see overmedication of pets), and even the night sky (see “Sky Grief”), and its distorted our perceptions of reality.
In this month’s Brands and Outliers, we discuss how negativity has become such big business, that being positive online opens you up to criticism of being “out of touch”, and flexing your suffering wins you influence in the feed.
But there’s a mounting feeling (and some evidence) that all of this hyped negativity is creating real distortion in people’s minds. When there’s a new name or hashtag for things you didn’t even know were bad, you start to believe they really are.
Negativity and the reasons to be negative have always existed. It’s just that now there’s real money to be made off of it.
Timestamps and other topics covered in our call:
