Clickbait. In the era where one seldom finds a human without some sort of a mobile device, the majority of shared information is distributed through the internet. There are a staggering 2 billion links on the World Wide Web.

The majority of these links are run by companies whose motives are simply to get the viewer to check out their page.

But I myself have been the victim of being unfulfilled after clicking on articles titled “17 Facts You Won’t Believe Are True” and “Leading Doctor Reveals the No. 1 Worst Carb You are Eating.” So why do people do this, and what makes these titles so enticing?

There are over 1.2 billion websites from which web surfers may choose. It is safe to assume the majority of these websites need clicks on their page in order to gain prominence in their respective fields.

In order for this to happen, sites usually label their links in an over-exaggerated manner to encourage the viewer to pop their head in. The popular news media site BuzzFeed is a prime example of this trend.

A fascinating article on keyhole.com suggests that 63 percent of BuzzFeed’s article titles are clickbait. This goes to show that even a website of its prestige still uses this sneaky tactic and has found major success from it.

So why are we so easily drawn to these titles?

The short answer to this question is that the title promises an exhilarating experience to the viewer. To the science buff, a more satisfying answer is that when one looks at an interest-provoking title, there is a release of dopamine into the brain that cannot be taken care of unless the viewer obtains the pledged information.

Knowing this valuable trickery, websites have found various literary techniques to catch the attention of the viewer.

To give you a better perspective on the matter, which article would you be more likely to click on:

1. You Won’t BELIEVE What Just Happened!! This Famous Celeb Said WHAT?!?!
2. For the Third Time This Week, LeBron James Complained About the Refs.

In this situation, both of the articles had the same exact content. But if you are anything like me, you probably chose Option 1. This is the power of a solid clickbait title.

Option 1 vows to give the potential viewer a wild quote by an anonymous globally-celebrated person.

On the other hand, Option 2 tells the web-surfers the name of the celebrity and also delivers the underwhelming message in the title.

Clickbaiters can utilize this sneaky tool for good and bad intentions. In a lot of cases, the trickery may be used for their own selfish benefit.

In other scenarios, the click-baiting of celebrity gossip can attract the seekers of Kardashian or D’Amelio drama to actual problems in society upon which light needs to be shed. Apart from the celebrity element,

I exercised this exact method in this very article. So, to all of my fellow recently-click baited Internet frequents: be careful.