A Christian response to the age of selective outrage

“Rage bait” was the 2025 Oxford word of the year, but the term still carries relevance in February 2026. Rage bait is defined as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media content.”

I don’t know about you, but I feel like rage bait is at an all-time high right now, and it always seems to spike post-Super Bowl halftime show. So let’s play a game. I’m going to share some popular buzz words and phrases, and I want you to pay attention to how you react, whether it’s with an internal eye roll, palpable tension or anxiety, or even a small spark of frustration.

Epstein Files. Inflation. ICE. Measles. Transgender athletes. DEI policies. Border security. Healthcare costs. Microplastics. Pesticides. China relations. TikTok bans. Gun control. Censorship. Election integrity. AI regulation. Police reform. Covid vaccine mandates. Crime rates in major cities. President Trump. Super Bowl halftime show. Bad Bunny. Kid Rock. 

Now I want you to notice something. If you had a response to one or more words or phrases listed, do those that you responded to have anything in common? Does your response align with the political party you associate yourself with? Or does your response have to do with what you see on your news feed each day? How much of your response is driven by what you pay attention to regularly?

I’m guessing that much of what stirs you up and incites you to “rage” is influenced by what you consume daily through your news sources, creating selective outrage and keeping you fired up and focused on the issues that frustrate you. And that guess I’m making isn’t just based on my own assumption; it’s backed by science.

The neuroscience of attention

I wrote about the impact of cognitive dissonance and the role it plays in generating rage last fall, but another aspect of why our brains are so attuned to selective outrage is that God designed them with an internal threat detector called the amygdala. 

When your brain picks up on a threat (real or perceived), the amygdala sends an alarm that reverberates throughout your entire nervous system, keeping your body ready to fight, flee, or freeze. (This is why you might feel your pulse race or start perspiring under stress: it’s protective.) 

Because the goal is survival, your brain is primed to notice the negative over the neutral. News outlets know this.

When news headlines broadcast a crisis or conflict, it activates “threat mode” in your brain. And once your nervous system is activated, you’re more likely to stay tuned in. This is something the news media has known for years, but with social media, it takes it to the next level.

What you see on social media is purely driven by what you pay attention to (and what your amygdala is activated by). Thanks to this algorithm, your selective outrage–filtered based on your ideology–becomes even more selective. You can even hide posts (or people) you don’t agree with, creating a news feed that is strictly curated through your preferred view of the world. 

Modern neuroscience teaches us that neurons that fire together, wire together. This refers to the concept that the brain thrives on repetition and forms connections with familiar information. 

So if your newsfeed is filled with right-leaning information, you’ll get outraged by things Republicans are outraged about. If your newsfeed is filled with left-leaning information, you’ll get outraged by things that Democrats are outraged about. And your newsfeed won’t stop feeding you that information until you click on something different.

Last fall, I experienced an influx of AI-generated reel clips in my newsfeed documenting “life in ancient Egypt.” Because I was studying the book of Exodus at the time, I clicked on one reel, which then turned my whole feed into articles about ancient Egypt. I wasn’t mad about it, but it was quite different from my typical feed filled with health facts and recipes. 

What I found interesting is that it aligns so closely with what we know from neuroscience. When you shift your attention and change your thought patterns away from the default program, your attention shifts and creates new patterns of thought.

But neuroscience isn’t the only way we know this concept is true. The Bible speaks about it as well.

Whatever is true

I doubt the apostle Paul knew about the amygdala. I doubt he knew about neurons and attention. But Paul knew something significant: what you think about matters. He even wrote to the Philippians about neuroscience:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things (Philippians 4:8).

God designed your brain to adapt to patterns of thought and be renewed and rewired. But here’s where modern algorithms make this more complicated. 

Focusing on “whatever is true” becomes more challenging when what you perceive to be true is what someone else believes is false, based on each of your curated social media newsfeeds. Your truth is selective. Your outrage becomes even more selective based on that truth. And that selective outrage becomes exhausting, wreaking havoc on physical and mental health.

Physically, negative emotions like fear, anxiety, and outrage can trigger distress in the body. As I write in my book, “Neuropeptides, also referred to as the ‘molecules of emotion,’ are chains of amino acids that are believed to be formed by emotions that originate in the brain. In response to different types of stress, neuropeptides can signal inflammatory cytokine production in the body, which is ­immune-protective in the ­ short-term but can wreak havoc and bring more distress to the body in the ­long-term.”

Mentally, negative emotions cause excessive ruminations that create patterns of negative thought. If your negative thoughts are familiar to the brain, they will become increasingly repetitive, and they will look like the truth—even when they’re not. This pattern of thought will drive wedges between your relationship with God, others, and even yourself.

Rewire your thought patterns

Today’s Christians are faced with a dilemma. How do we respond to this selective outrage? When do we choose to engage, and when do we choose to sit back and let the rage baiters run the show? I think there are three things we can look at to help us rewire beneficial patterns of thought in our minds.

1. Examine your filter. Determine if your perspective is based more on the truth of this world or the truth of God’s Word. If you find yourself spending excessive amounts of time scrolling or watching the news, ask, “Is this pattern drawing me to God’s Word or away from his truth?” 
2. Consider your energy expenditure. Oftentimes, we use up our energy stores on what is happening on our handheld screens, leaving little for the people and work we are called to steward right in front of us. Ask yourself, “How much of my energy is being used up on matters that are out of my control, and is this negatively interfering with my relationships and/or God-given purpose?”
3. Renew your mind with God’s Word every day. Checking your phone may be the first thing you do every morning. Ask yourself, “How much of my primary attention is going to the truth of God’s Word versus the truth in my newsfeed?” Make a change to your routine and choose to spend time in God’s Word before activating your amygdala with headlines.

While selective outrage monopolizes precious mental real estate, your brain can change. Even if you feel overly activated by the ever-changing rage bait headlines, your brain can learn new patterns that bring hope and peace. After all, the God who designed your brain has given you the tools to do just that.

Are you using them?