The recent work of Professor Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick’s and PhD graduate Daniel Sude found that if given the option to like a post on social media, viewers are less engaged with the content. The results of their study showed that the ability to interact with online content may change how we consume it. 

People’s views on controversial topics like gun control became more prominent by interacting positively with posts that agreed with their opinions. In Sude and Knobloch-Westerwick’s lab experiment researchers found that people spent about 7 percent less time reading articles on controversial topics when they had the opportunity to upvote or downvote than if there was no interactive element.

Read more about their experiment in Ohio State News.