I think both things are true. The algorithms heavily push enraging content, b/c that is the best way to make people engage. And nothing is more enraging than extreme polarization. The is having a really bad impact on our societies. Mine is suffering really bad. Lots of others are on this path too.

This quote is from a FB data scientist and manager at FB!

Frances Haugen: When we live in an information environment that is full of angry, hateful, polarizing content it erodes our civic trust, it erodes our faith in each other, it erodes our ability to want to care for each other, the version of Facebook that exists today is tearing our societies apart and causing ethnic violence around the world. Its own research is showing that content that is hateful, that is divisive, that is polarizing, it's easier to inspire people to anger than it is to other emotions.

But also true, that it kinda happens even without algorithms. There's a number, I forgot the name of it. It's relatd to how many ppl we interact with in our lives. Before the internet, it was always like a couple hundred tops. With some exceptions, like kings, but for most ppl it was true. Social media changed this number. A person can go to FB and post enraging content that 500M people will see. That's new, overnight by evolutionary standards.