'Rage-bait' is a term you may have come across in online discourse in recent months. 

While it is not certified as a word recognised by traditional dictionaries, its increased use as a combination of two better known separate words, 'rage' and 'clickbait', has lead to widespread acceptance and use of it into discussions about social media.

To rage-bait is essentially to use provocative media, in the form of articles, videos or posts to elicit strong emotional reactions, namely, outrage and anger in order to drive engagement.

This is an increasingly worrying eventuality as for most domains, monetisation is proportional to views and engagement, which drives content-creators and media accounts to compromise their integrity - or in other words, sell their soul for money.

The comprehensive depletion in attention spans through excessive social media use in society, means these media domains are competing in a currency of their users' dopamine, where the more outrageous and striking a post is, the more and prolonged attention the source will be given.

In small quantities and when justified, eliciting emotions in viewers can be constructive and needed, such as raising awareness among pressing social issues, inspiring action through storytelling and encouraging empathy.

However, this has ultimately been monopolised by the overwhelming and unrelenting force of capitalism.