On this episode of the Outrage Overload podcast, we’re going to learn what’s going on in our brain when we’re confronted with outrage porn and ways to better handle the resulting emotions with Dr. Alex Korb, a neuroscientist, researcher, professor, and best-selling author of “The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time.”

We will cover this in two parts. First, in this episode, we’ll focus on some of the brain systems involved and resulting responses and in part two we will take a look at what we can do to be less stressed out and achieve better outcomes.

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Show Notes:
https://outrageoverload.net/

Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog or email [email protected]. Follow the show on Twitter @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We are also on Facebook /OutrageOverload.

HOTLINE: 925-552-7885

Got a Question, comment or just thoughts you'd like to share? Call the OO hotline and leave a message and you could be featured in an upcoming episode

If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.

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Intro music and outro music by Michael Ramir C.

Many thanks to my co-editor and co-director, Austin Chen.

I speak with Kevin Bass, an M.D./Ph.D. student, who recently wrote an opinion piece for Newsweek titled It’s Time for the Scientific Community to Admit We Were Wrong About COVID and It Cost Lives that has stirred up quite a bit of controversy.

We discuss the issue of trust between the scientific community and the public, that the temperature needs to be lowered, and that perhaps the scientific community should be more open to criticism in order to rebuild trust. Listen and you decide.

We explore the role of the media in amplifying outrage and how social media algorithms can create a culture of hype and division. We examine how these factors contributed to the politicization of science and the rise of misinformation. Bass emphasizes the need for the scientific community to be more transparent, open to criticism, and willing to engage in honest dialogue with those who hold differing viewpoints.

This episode raises important questions about the relationship between science, media, and the public. Can we bridge the gap between these groups and find a way to rebuild trust? How can we navigate the complexities of scientific information in an era of extreme political polarization and social media echo chambers?

Join us for a thought-provoking discussion about the importance of lowering the temperature, finding common ground, and fostering a more constructive dialogue around science and public health.

Key Themes:

• Media Outrage and Social Media Hype: How media narratives and social media algorithms shape public perception and amplify outrage.
• Erosion of Trust in Science: Examining the factors that have contributed to declining trust in the scientific community.
• Politicization of Science: The dangers of science becoming a "team sport" and the need for greater objectivity and transparency.
• The Role of Criticism: The importance of open dialogue and constructive criticism in scientific discourse.
• Bridging the Divide: Strategies for rebuilding trust between the scientific community and the public.

Text me your feedback and leave your contact info if you'd like a reply (this is a one-way text). Thanks, David

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Show Notes:
https://outrageoverload.net/

Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog or email [email protected]. Follow the show on Twitter @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We are also on Facebook /OutrageOverload.

HOTLINE: 925-552-7885

Got a Question, comment or just thoughts you'd like to share? Call the OO hotline and leave a message and you could be featured in an upcoming episode

If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.

Rate and Review the show on Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/OutrageOverload

Intro music and outro music by Michael Ramir C.

Many thanks to my co-editor and co-director, Austin Chen.

This is part-two of a two-part series with Dr. Steven Rathje discussing research that found that social media creates incentives for out-group animosity, which can be a factor in increasing polarization. It is also harmful for mental health and society.

In this episode, we also talk about the increasing problem of transparency of social media platforms and how independent researchers are being shut out. This makes it impossible for researchers to examine the impacts of these platforms on society.

Text me your feedback and leave your contact info if you'd like a reply (this is a one-way text). Thanks, David

Support the show

Show Notes:
https://outrageoverload.net/

Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog or email [email protected]. Follow the show on Twitter @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We are also on Facebook /OutrageOverload.

HOTLINE: 925-552-7885

Got a Question, comment or just thoughts you'd like to share? Call the OO hotline and leave a message and you could be featured in an upcoming episode

If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.

Rate and Review the show on Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/OutrageOverload

Intro music and outro music by Michael Ramir C.

Many thanks to my co-editor and co-director, Austin Chen.

In this episode we talk to Dr. Steven Rathje, building on research from prior episodes, we look at how out-group animosity drives engagement on social media.

Part one of a two-part series.

In this episode you will learn about negative affect language, moral language, negativity bias, social identity theory, and much more.

Text me your feedback and leave your contact info if you'd like a reply (this is a one-way text). Thanks, David

Support the show

Show Notes:
https://outrageoverload.net/

Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog or email [email protected]. Follow the show on Twitter @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We are also on Facebook /OutrageOverload.

HOTLINE: 925-552-7885

Got a Question, comment or just thoughts you'd like to share? Call the OO hotline and leave a message and you could be featured in an upcoming episode

If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.

Rate and Review the show on Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/OutrageOverload

Intro music and outro music by Michael Ramir C.

Many thanks to my co-editor and co-director, Austin Chen.

I got a chance to sit down with professor Jeffrey M. Berry to catch up on what has changed (and what hasn’t changed) with the outrage industry since the publishing of his book “The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility.”

Text me your feedback and leave your contact info if you'd like a reply (this is a one-way text). Thanks, David

Support the show

Show Notes:
https://outrageoverload.net/

Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog or email [email protected]. Follow the show on Twitter @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We are also on Facebook /OutrageOverload.

HOTLINE: 925-552-7885

Got a Question, comment or just thoughts you'd like to share? Call the OO hotline and leave a message and you could be featured in an upcoming episode

If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.

Rate and Review the show on Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/OutrageOverload

Intro music and outro music by Michael Ramir C.

Many thanks to my co-editor and co-director, Austin Chen.

The unsettling story of a small-town mom whose life takes a shocking turn after an ATM robbery. What begins as a simple warning to her neighbors on Nextdoor—a platform meant to foster community—spirals into a chaotic blend of victim blaming, political division, and social media-fueled outrage.

We explore how engagement-driven algorithms and the tendency to distort events for partisan purposes amplify anger and division, even in what should be supportive spaces. This episode sheds light on the broader dynamics of how outrage spreads through platforms designed to connect us, the psychological toll on individuals caught in these digital firestorms, and the impact on trust within local communities.

By examining this real-life incident, we also reflect on the ways media hype, political bias, and the hunger for extreme reactions shape our perceptions of safety, justice, and one another. What happens when we stop seeing each other as neighbors and start viewing everything through a lens of anger, difference, and conflict?

Join us for this poignant look at the intersection of mental health, social media dynamics, and the erosion of civility. If you’ve ever wondered how our digital lives fuel political fights, distort the news, and make us feel more divided than ever, this episode is for you.

Text me your feedback and leave your contact info if you'd like a reply (this is a one-way text). Thanks, David

Support the show

Show Notes:
https://outrageoverload.net/

Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog or email [email protected]. Follow the show on Twitter @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We are also on Facebook /OutrageOverload.

HOTLINE: 925-552-7885

Got a Question, comment or just thoughts you'd like to share? Call the OO hotline and leave a message and you could be featured in an upcoming episode

If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.

Rate and Review the show on Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/OutrageOverload

Intro music and outro music by Michael Ramir C.

Many thanks to my co-editor and co-director, Austin Chen.

Moral panics are not uncommon. Back in the 1980’s there was a moral panic over the game Dungeons and Dragons. Some parents believed D&D was the work of the devil, a gateway to joining a Satanic cult. It wasn’t “but this didn’t stop people from worrying about it,” says my guest on this episode, Dr. Kurt Gray, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

I got a chance to speak to Dr. Gray about new research from he and his postdoc, Curtis Puryear, titled Virality Drives Moral Panics on Social Media (currently under peer review) showing a connection where social media virality causes moral panics, prompting expression of moral outrage.

You don’t want to miss this episode. Professor Gray has some terrific insights.

Episode 006

Text me your feedback and leave your contact info if you'd like a reply (this is a one-way text). Thanks, David

Support the show

Show Notes:
https://outrageoverload.net/

Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog or email [email protected]. Follow the show on Twitter @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We are also on Facebook /OutrageOverload.

HOTLINE: 925-552-7885

Got a Question, comment or just thoughts you'd like to share? Call the OO hotline and leave a message and you could be featured in an upcoming episode

If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.

Rate and Review the show on Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/OutrageOverload

Intro music and outro music by Michael Ramir C.

Many thanks to my co-editor and co-director, Austin Chen.

In this bonus episode, I geek out with an old friend, David Troy. We talk about Twitter and the Twitter-alternative, Mastodon, along with some geopolitics and other things.

This episode was record February 2, 2023 and is being released nearly unedited for timeliness.

Text me your feedback and leave your contact info if you'd like a reply (this is a one-way text). Thanks, David

Support the show

Show Notes:
https://outrageoverload.net/

Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog or email [email protected]. Follow the show on Twitter @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We are also on Facebook /OutrageOverload.

HOTLINE: 925-552-7885

Got a Question, comment or just thoughts you'd like to share? Call the OO hotline and leave a message and you could be featured in an upcoming episode

If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.

Rate and Review the show on Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/OutrageOverload

Intro music and outro music by Michael Ramir C.

Many thanks to my co-editor and co-director, Austin Chen.

I speak with Luke Berryman, the founder of The Ninth Candle, to discuss holocaust denial and bothsidesism.

I discovered Luke Berryman from an article in Education Week titled “How Holocaust Denial and Other Bogus Claims Are Poisoning Schools” with the sub-title “Don’t be fooled by bothsidesism.”

Episode 005

Text me your feedback and leave your contact info if you'd like a reply (this is a one-way text). Thanks, David

Support the show

Show Notes:
https://outrageoverload.net/

Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog or email [email protected]. Follow the show on Twitter @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We are also on Facebook /OutrageOverload.

HOTLINE: 925-552-7885

Got a Question, comment or just thoughts you'd like to share? Call the OO hotline and leave a message and you could be featured in an upcoming episode

If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.

Rate and Review the show on Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/OutrageOverload

Intro music and outro music by Michael Ramir C.

Many thanks to my co-editor and co-director, Austin Chen.

I sit down with Sean Evans, Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Union University, to nerd-out on outrage and political science. 

We talk about how the parties have changed over the past fifty years, third parties and ranked-choice voting, accountability of our elected officials, and, yes, even some optimism.

Episode 004

Text me your feedback and leave your contact info if you'd like a reply (this is a one-way text). Thanks, David

Support the show

Show Notes:
https://outrageoverload.net/

Follow me, David Beckemeyer, on Twitter @mrblog or email [email protected]. Follow the show on Twitter @OutrageOverload or Instagram @OutrageOverload. We are also on Facebook /OutrageOverload.

HOTLINE: 925-552-7885

Got a Question, comment or just thoughts you'd like to share? Call the OO hotline and leave a message and you could be featured in an upcoming episode

If you would like to help the show, you can contribute here. Tell everyone you know about the show. That’s the best way to support it.

Rate and Review the show on Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/OutrageOverload

Intro music and outro music by Michael Ramir C.

Many thanks to my co-editor and co-director, Austin Chen.