I think technology is changing which kinds of gossip get spread. It used to be either things you heard directly from the people in your circle, or on tv / newspapers / magazines. Now it's algorithmically determined to be the stuff that's most likely to be shared out of a giant planet of random gossip. Algorithms reinforcing these kinds of vices make it far more extreme.
There are people who wake up and say "I'm gonna get involved in some gossip today". I'm not sure how much the algorithms create this behavior, or just facilitate them doing what they already wanted to do
Algorithms don't choose stories that appeal to the lowest common denominator. People do that. The algorithms just reflect what people are already talking about
To some extent, yes, it's people choosing to do that. Just like people choose to eat sweets. If you keep people in an environment where there are always sights and smells of sweets, they'll probably end up eating more. Obviously you could blame the people for having poor impulse control, but certainly the environment has an effect. Going back to social networking, the algorithms end up reinforcing the bad habits, leading to a bad overall outcome.
The environment is omnipotent compared to us. It's also superficial, reactionary and lacking introspection. Humans have potential to overcome some of it.
