Why are we addicted to reading comments?

[tommysteryy]

Braindump:

• Reading comments on Instagram and YouTube videos are so addicting. Is it merely another form of connecting with other users, or indicative of something more?

• What do we look for in the comments?

  • The top comment agreeing with what you're thinking
  • Seeing a niche joke that you thought of in the comments
  • Seeing someone in the comments mention an observation the same way you did
  • Having doubts in your mind about the validity of a opinion or fact, and seeing lots of "hate" in the comments
  • thinking "wtf is this" and seeing comments that are similar opinions
  • "wtf.. okay I just gotta make sure I'm not the only person who thinks this is CRAZY right?"
  • seeing a NBA trade, so we check the comments to see if it's a good trade or not and what others think
  • for some reason, seeing arguments start in comments is super fun
  • Looking for dumb, uneducated, ignorant, "rage-bait" comments about the topic, and seeing '8237 replies' below it

• Is this indicative of "caring about what others think"?

• Growing up with social media and constant coverage of things created this natural cycle of "something happens" -> "oh my god what does ____ think?"

[tommysteryy]

Zooming out, it's kind of weird explaining to someone who doesn't read comments.

"Why do you always click the comments?" ".. I don't know, I wanna see what other people are saying about it" "Why would that matter?" "... or maybe there are some funny jokes in the comments"

[tommysteryy]

Another angle is to think about what kinds of posts you would most want to click the comments.

Hate comments:

• Post from hypebeast about newest luxury brand's release of a 80,000 handbag that's made with like Barbie doll parts and is really ugly

Making the same joke

• Post from espn about Lebron James saying he "knew" that Trudeau would win the Nobel peace price, and that he had been following it for a while