The Internet's full of headlines that sound amazing, but when you click them the story is stupid or boring. So if you're tired of wasting your time, watch out for these five ways they trick you into clicking on links.
1. They make the dumbest detail into the whole story. Like the woman who killed two people because she parked her car in the left lane of a highway. A lot of headlines ignored the deaths and focused on how she stopped to help some DUCKS.
2. They update an old story and don't update the headline. This happens a lot with stupid crimes, when the person finally gets convicted. The story is the conviction, but the headline only mentions the crime, because that's what gets people's attention.
3. They exaggerate a scientific finding to make it sound spectacular. Like when they discover an Earth-like planet in another solar system, and everyone reports it as if we're going to confirm the existence of intelligent alien life any day now.
4. They use half a quote to make the headline say something different. Some places reported that Landon Donovan rooted against the U.S. in the World Cup after he got cut. But they took his words out of context, and ignored what he was actually saying.
5. They make a story out of a few people expressing extreme opinions. Like people getting mad that someone was breastfeeding in public. But it might have only been TWO people who got mad, and everyone else was supportive.