Scrolling through social media, people every day look at a post or a video and feel annoyed and angry. They might not know it yet, but they are victims of something called Rage Bait.
Oxford University Press chose its word of the year and it was none other than Rage Bait. The word was used very commonly during last year. The word or term describe posts and videos online to produce anger and frustration in the audience. These posts are supposed to make the audience shock, offend and frustrate. The goal of Rage Bait is simple they need to people to react.
The more a post causes frustration in the audience the more it is shared and commented on. Rage Baiting has helped creators get more views. Creators will say or do something extremely offensive and instantly go viral. Rage bait is a new form of clickbait but it focuses on creating anger rather than curiosity.
Two other words were shared by Oxford this year. The words are aura farming and biohack. Aura Farming means building a mysterious and cool image online. The second one means trying to improve your body and mind by changing your lifestyle or using supplements and tools.
Language experts and the public voted for the winning word. Casper Grathwohl from Oxford Languages said the rise of rage bait shows how aware we are of online tricks. Before, the internet used to pull us in with exciting headlines. Now it plays with our emotions. Anger spreads fast, and algorithms help push that anger even further.
Last year’s word was brain rot, a phrase about the tired feeling we get from endless scrolling. Together, these words show a pattern. First, we get angry. Then the anger keeps us online. Soon we feel drained.
Other dictionaries also chose new words. Cambridge picked parasocial, about one-sided bonds with celebrities. Collins chose vibe coding, which means making apps just by describing them to AI.
The world is changing. Our words show it.
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