Clickbait (Blogophilia 48.9)
Clickbait. You know it. You've seen it. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebat... It is the ultimate masquerade. An eye catching headline inducing an unintended left finger movement. Whether It is article, slideshow or video, it is what the Internet has devolved into, a series of empty calorie diversion that bloat the mind. If you are a professional writer, you want those clicks to happen. Otherwise your lonely missives are lost in the ether. But like a slippery slope into an unending labyrinth, the process of creating them becomes an addiction for both writer and reader. A dark Gepetto pulling emotional strings for Pinocchio to react. Instead of reading filling, uplifting poetry and stories, we slide down a rabbit hole of 10 worst this, unbelievable that and gross something or another. Oh, we might click on a cute kitten or puppy vid, but for the most part we lean toward the tawdry and sadistic, and it isn't eve...