In a groundbreaking report, leading behavioral economists and environmental psychologists have identified a troubling parallel between the fleeting nature of contemporary public outrage and the industrial practice of planned obsolescence, manifesting as a monumental psychic waste problem.
Details:
- - The rapid acceleration of the 24-hour news cycle has long been noted for its ability to diminish the longevity of public attention, creating an incessant demand for novel stimuli.
- - New research, however, suggests this isn't merely an attention deficit but a systemic flaw where our "emotional hardware"—our capacity for sustained indignation and empathy—is now intentionally engineered with a short lifespan, forcing constant "upgrades" to new controversies. This phenomenon, dubbed "emotional obsolescence," has led to an estimated 62 million tons of discarded moral urgency and fragmented outrage annually, a metric directly analogous to global e-waste.
- - This continuous cycle of discard and replacement, exemplified by the rapid churn surrounding even the most shocking headlines, leaves little capacity for deep engagement, reducing complex societal issues to transient data points on a scrolling feed.
Why it Matters:
The implications are monstrous, scholars warn, as this throwaway culture of public sentiment ensures that no single issue, however dire, can command sustained moral capital for long enough to effect meaningful, systemic change. Instead, society is left with a vast and growing landfill of unresolved grievances and unaddressed injustices, perpetually replaced by the next brightly packaged outrage, only to be discarded when its novelty wears thin, further cementing the status quo for those who profit from the short-term engagement.