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People don't have a craving for this kind of crap, that is they don't actively search for it. It works by exploiting the brain. It's the publishing equivalent t
by billmalarky 11y ago
People don't have a craving for this kind of crap, that is they don't actively search for it. It works by exploiting the brain. It's the publishing equivalent to junk food. We know it's awful. We know it's bad for us. But we struggle to not consume it because it's cheap and it pings our reward systems.
- AnimalMuppet 11y agoActually, I think that the clickbait junk makes us think that it will ping our reward systems. For me, at least, it doesn't really reward me very well (even in a junk food way). Maybe this means that the real clickbait trash is training me not to click on it, so I don't need the fake to do so?
- vidarh 11y agoPart of our reward systems is what was initially named the "pleasure centre". When the "pleasure centre" in the brain was first identified and named, it was named because it was thought that stimulating it caused pleasure, because rodents given the choice to stimulate it vs. other activity would stimulate the pleasure centre even over eating. But as it turns out, the main function of stimulating this area is strong cravings and compulsion. You may get some pleasure from giving in to the cravings, but the cravings are independent of whether or not there's a "real" reward at the end of it.
- billmalarky 11y agoReminds me of a comment I read a few weeks back when an ex-drug addict was describing how the anticipation of using drugs was often more rewarding than the use itself. Which explains the pleasures in drug use rituals.
- TeMPOraL 11y agoI cured myself out of clickbait headlines after I clicked on few and learned to expect no content on the other side. It's a simple association, really. You click on something X-y, you get no reward, you learn not to waste time on X-looking things.
- billmalarky 11y agoFor you certainly. But the proof of the pudding is in the tasting. Clickbait drives an insane amount of traffic and it shows no slowing down. Cosmo has been successfully using "clickbait" titles for decades on the cover of their magazines.
- TeMPOraL 11y agoOf course. I'm not denying the effectiveness of this technique, just providing a n=1 datapoint. Maybe my personal idiosyncrasies make me immune to that particular type of traffic-driving technique (I have no doubts I'm vulnerable to other methods).
- Natsu 11y agoI've just banned myself from visiting many of the worst offenders. Though it's getting really hard, any more, to find sites that won't sink to that level.