Here’s a fun tip. If you are on a website reading a news article or something, they almost always have little blurbs at the bottom saying things like “YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT HE LOOKS LIKE NOW” OR “SHE CHANGED ONE DETAIL IN HER WEDDING AND IT WAS CRAZY!” You know the ones.

If you see one of those do yourself and us all a favor. Don’t click it. I know the temptation is strong and now you are super curious about what caused that weight loss or who she is dating now, but just don’t. There’s two reasons for this.

First of all, and this is the reason for you, it takes way too long to find out the info. You click, and it takes you to a page that teases the reason you clicked and it has the dreaded button at the bottom (usually surrounded by ads placed so you will click on them accidentally) that says “NEXT PAGE. So you click, thinking, “This shouldn’t take too long.” But it does. It really does. So instead of clicking, just do yourself a solid and do an internet search for it instead.

I tested this out tonight. I was reading an article on a local tv station website, and there was a clickbait ad at the bottom that read “After Celine Dion’s Major Weight Loss, She Confirms What We Suspected All Along” So I clicked it as a test. Y’all, it took me TWENTY NINE clicks and page loads to get to where the website informed me that Ms. Dion’s weight loss is a direct result of her newfound love of ballet dancing. That’s a two followed by a nine. It should not take 29 clicks with each page giving a little detail and then NEXT PAGE to get the information.

And then I googled “Celine Dion weight” and with ONE click (using Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” button), it brought up the first web result, which was the page for the Today Show, which told me right at the top, “Celine Dion discusses her recent weight loss: ‘Everything’s fine’ The secret to her new look? Dancing!” And with one brief scroll down the page the article informed me that it was ballet dancing. One click and ten seconds compared to 29 clicks and about 5 minutes. I did it for you.

Just as a side note, remember what the clickbait title claimed? “….She Confirms What We Suspected All Along.” Really? You suspected “all along” she was practicing ballet dancing? If that’s true, you should get your own hotline because you have information people need.

And that brings me to point number two, which is the reason you AND I shouldn’t click these. They won’t quit making these annoying things unless people stop clicking them. Every time you click “Next page” more ads pop up on the page, and they get paid money every time you “view” an ad (determined by if it loaded on your screen). So you’re actually insuring that these people get paid by advertisers for annoying you. This is like asking the neighbor kid to come over to your front porch and hit you with a stick repeatedly, and then giving him money to do it.

So please……don’t click. Search instead. Make the world a better place.