With the advancement of technology anyone and their mother can make a website.
With all these articles left and right, a problem appears for said creators.
This problem resides in the fact that certain sites don’t receive as much activity, because there are thousands of the same kind.
Thus, clickbait was born, and while some might believe it to be the bane of our internet community, I for one am a proud supporter of these clickbait articles.
For one, without clickbait, the internet would be incredibly dull.
You’ve done all your homework and there’s nothing else to do but sit and watch a bug crawl from one end of your dorm to the other.
Suddenly, you realize you could watch Netflix, so you pull out your laptop and start to type in the URL.
Without these amazing ads, you’ll watch your show or movie without any pauses or interruptions, and by the time you’ve watched the final episode of Orange is the New Black it will only be 10 pm.
You decide to call it a night and get a fair amount of sleep. You roll over and try to get some shut eye, but unfortunately your energy drink of choice has you by the neck.
Now what? Suffer? Of course not.
You pull out your laptop, and here’s where the magic happens. “Top Ten Reasons Why You Can’t Sleep” pops up. How relatable! You click it, and realize that it’s completely true, and that’s when another article comes up, “You Won’t Believe What This Cat Has to Say About Bernie Sanders!!”
In your heart you know that you’re about to see something really entertaining, so you click the link.
This goes on for a couple more hours, and your eyelids are heavy. As you lay in bed, you smile at all this new information you never would have known.
Granted, this example might be a little much, but it isn’t too incredibly far fetched.
Without clickbait, there would not be much to break up the monotony of everyday life. In addition, clickbait works great for study breaks. Unlike a real interaction with real people, you are in full control.
Need a five minute distraction? Clickbait.
Need a group of cucumbers dressed up as the cast of “Friends”? Clickbait.
It’s all out there for you to take advantage of.
Granted, some clickbait ads don’t have quality content underneath, but that’s the same for anything in life.
You aren’t going to enjoy every book you read or movie you see, so it’s odd that clickbait gets the bad rep.
Perhaps it isn’t what you expected it to be, or rather than five tips there’s only three legitimate ones and two half-baked ideas, but at least you got to enjoy an eye grabbing title.
Finally, clickbait is a way to get mass media attention for something that previously would never have received any attention.
A policeman has shot and killed someone in some town you have never heard of.
Without a clickbait article, this might never get to a wider audience.
With clickbait, however, a nation can realize and rise together in an issue that needs fixing, like the events surrounding Trayvon Martin.
Overall, clickbait isn’t perfect, but it’s way better than boredom and in some cases it can help.
It isn’t where you should always turn, but it’s nice every now and then. So indulge away!