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Month: August 2022

NBER paper: Why Is All COVID-19 News Bad News?

NBER paper: Why Is All COVID-19 News Bad News?

91% of US news about Covid topics was negative – even when reporting on positive vaccine developments or low case counts in schools. The media learned that consumers demand negativity – I postulate this is because consumers who are suffering from hysteria and anxiety seek out news that confirms their anxiety, and that being anxious is okay.

Is “pretty privilege” a “thing” on social media platforms?

Is “pretty privilege” a “thing” on social media platforms?

Is “pretty privilege” real on social media? There are strong hints that it is a real issue. Some of it may come from how users select videos, which trains the “algorithm” in your likes, but others have said that the algorithms are intentionally designed to minimize views of videos with “non pretty” people.

“How junk science got spread like wildfire”

“How junk science got spread like wildfire”

Two appalling bad studies were widely shared by “experts” on social media. One was so bad, and its errors so obvious, that they only way they could have decided to share was to do so without having read even the abstract of the study.