Certificate 005

Chapter Five: The Social Media Kool-Aid Factory

These are the sources the Kool-Aid Laboratory used to examine this chapter. Every one is public. Check them yourself.

Want the plain-English verdict and the full laboratory report for this chapter? Those are in Who's Drinking the Kool-Aid? — The Official Research Companion. Get the Companion →

#2 Scholarly / institutional

Brady, McLoughlin, Doan & Crockett — "How social learning amplifies moral outrage expression in online social networks," Science Advances 7(33), eabe5641 (August 13, 2021).

#4 Scholarly / institutional

Milli et al., Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia — "Engagement, User Satisfaction, and the Amplification of Divisive Content on Social Media"

(published in PNAS Nexus 4(3), March 2025). A preregistered audit found engagement-based ranking amplified out-group-hostile content users said made them feel worse, and that users did not prefer that content. Knight Institute: PNAS Nexus:

#6 Scholarly / institutional

Saleem et al. — "Exploring the Relationship Between Social Media Use and Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety Among Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Narrative Review," Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking (2024), DOI 10.1089/cyber.2023.0456.