What starts as a few innocent moments to fill the time quickly ensnares me and completely absorbs my focus and my energy. Headlines designed to elicit rage send me running to the comment section to witness the carnage. Hooky opening lines have me watching minute after minute of some cautionary tale or horror story. It’s undeniable that I’m entertained—in the sense that I can’t look away—but ultimately, the passive scroll intended to allow me to escape reality fills me with the very real and very grounded feelings of anxiety, despair, and anger. All in the name of staying informed or connecting with friends and family.1
One emotion that keeps surfacing in me—online and offline—is anger. And of course, as these things go, just as I was starting to recognize this as a pattern, my pastor said something mind-blowing about this very topic. He said that venting—or ranting—your anger is actually not beneficial. In fact, it can be harmful. Now, this was disappointing to hear, as I can really hone my complaints into a compelling and entertaining monologue for my friends. But here’s the thing about anger. It builds. It doesn’t readily diffuse when you close out of the app. Leading researcher in aggression, Brad J. Bushman, found that venting (i.e., hitting a punching bag or screaming into a pillow—remember that advice from your childhood? Just me?) increases aggression, not reduces it.2 The scientific reasoning behind this is neuroplasticity—our brain’s ability to form and reinforce habits through repeated behaviors. Repeated anger only deepens grooves in your brain, strengthening your anger response. Basically, the more you revisit those angry emotions, the more your brain will spring back into that angry headspace. And when you apply that principle to our online behavior, scrolling doesn’t just shape what you see—it shapes how you think.
Long before social media gave us instant outlets for outrage, the ancients were already grappling with the complexities of anger and self-control.3 Anger is a perfectly normal and healthy human emotion, but left unchecked, it can escalate into aggression that starts to shape the way we view the world and the people in it. These well-worn grooves of anger in our brains ultimately build up walls of division. But our friends, family, and colleagues aren’t an algorithm of perfectly tailored groups served up to us with identical opinions to our own—they’re human beings. And they are the very people God has placed in my life to love. So, where does that line fall? When do you know that your anger has gone too far? Perhaps even into something dangerous? We’ll explore that in my Going Deeper video!
Bri Rosely is a writer and church leader from Northern California. She’s contributed to Pray.com and co-wrote The Chosen People Podcast with Yael Eckstein. She’s the creator of You’ve Heard It Said, a Substack newsletter exploring the ancient history and anthropology behind the biblical stories we think we know. When not writing or researching, she offsets her screen time by paddleboarding or taking day trips to the coast. Find her at brirosely.com or on all socials with the same name.
1 Remember when that’s all social media was? Simpler times.
2 For readers who want the full study: Bushman, B. J. (2002). Does venting anger feed or extinguish the flame? Catharsis, rumination, distraction, anger, and aggressive responding. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28(6), 724–731.
3 King Solomon writes in his collection of proverbs, “A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.” (Proverbs 29:11) and James, the brother of Jesus, writes in his book, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” (James 1:19-20).
