Here’s why I think people are compelled to click on negative stories, Anne. Life is scary and hard. Many of us are dealing with huge problems: addiction, unemployment, cancer, you name it. We get a little shot of dopamine hearing about people who have it worse than we do.

We also like to judge the actions and choices of those people and tell ourselves that those things will never happen to us because we’re smarter or more cautious. It’s a fairytale we tell ourselves because the realization that the worst things that can happen to anybody can also happen to us is unbearable.