IPMAT Indore 2026 · Verbal Ability · Question 8

IPMAT Indore 2026 previous year question on RC Detail and Fact Based Questions, with the answer and a step-by-step solution.

RC Detail and Fact Based QuestionsReading Comprehension - Question TypesMultiple choiceMedium

RC passage 2: Passage 2 — this question belongs to a set. Read the full set with all 6 questions →

Read the passage carefully and answer the following questions.
Anger can be a useful emotion. It can play a key role in building a strong individual psyche, as also a just society. But the algohacking of our brains to keep them in a state of incessant anger? That’s pure poison. Some companies and individuals draw colossal profits from it, but at terrible cost to general well-being. That rage bait has been declared Oxford English Dictionary’s word of 2025 is indicative of the spread of this poison. In 2024, it was brain rot that came on top. Both speak of the same diseased online ecosystem. All of this is bad enough for adults, but what it’s doing to children is a great nightmare.

Specifically, rage bait refers to online content designed to elicit anger or outrage. Once tech platforms figured out how this kind of content spirals user engagement, the algorithms got tweaked to feed us more and more of the same, activating a diabolical incentive structure of hate. Of course, in this swamp, reality is completely distorted. You could take any major event of recent times as an example and the difference between your newspaper’s reportage and your online feed would be dramatic. Reading responsible accounts of pollution, a terror attack, an election result etc. would give you food for thought. On social media, you would be targeted with stuff doctored to send you into troll mode.

If you block the accounts that most inflame you, you deprive them of your attention, you refuse to buy the hate they are selling. Blocking even hurts them with the algorithm. David did defeat Goliath.

And make no mistake, this is a civilisational battle. We must fight against the atrophy of our attention, its capture by the most terrible types of things that human nature can be drawn to, and to regain our sense and sensibility.

The author is of the opinion that
  1. A
    the response of users does not vary according to the media consumed.
  2. B
    the reaction of users cannot be controlled by media.
  3. C
    reading responsible media reports promotes thoughtfulness.
  4. D
    social media reports more widely and responsibly.
Pick an option, then check.
Answer & solution

Answer: Option C

Where the passage says it. Paragraph 2: “Reading responsible accounts of pollution, a terror attack, an election result etc. would give you food for thought. On social media, you would be targeted with stuff doctored to send you into troll mode.”

“Food for thought” is thoughtfulness; the contrast with social media is explicit.

Why the others fail:

(a) is contradicted by that very contrast — the whole paragraph shows response does vary with the medium.

(b) is the reverse of the passage’s thesis, which is that algorithms shape user reactions deliberately.

(d) inverts the comparison: it is the newspaper, not social media, that is described as responsible.

Answer: Option 3

Shortcut. The paragraph is built on one contrast — newspaper versus feed. Options (a), (b) and (d) each deny or reverse that contrast, so the one that preserves it must be right.

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