I’ve been blogging for 12 years, which is crazy to think about.
Along the way, I’ve learned a few things about writing for the Internet, including the importance of titles and headlines. If you are going to get noticed on the Internet, you need to do it well.
A blogging friend of mine once confided in me that he’ll spend hours crafting the perfect title for a blog he has written–sometimes spending as much time crafting a title as writing the article itself. That is how important the skill has become.
But it makes sense.
In a world where billions of new pieces of media are being published every day, a headline may be the only opportunity you have to grab a potential reader’s attention. And your words are only helpful if they are read by someone else.
Choosing headlines and titles that can grab a person’s attention enough, to cause them to stop their lives to read what you wrote, is one of the most important skills for writing on the Internet.
That being said, I think it is important, from time to time, for all of us to take a step back and remember how hard websites are working to grab our attention to increase clicks and views. There are a number of different things a publisher can do to grab our attention—and not all of them are healthy for us as individuals or for us as a society.
For example, hysteria drives clicks (and viewers).
Manufacturing hysteria is not usually helpful or beneficial for a society. But websites and media outlets use it all the time to grab our attention.
It is, after all, more likely that we would click on a news article proclaiming the end of the world than an article reporting everything is going just fine.
I’ve been taking note of some of the headlines I’ve seen over the past few weeks. Here are just a couple:
Most Daunting Virus in Half a Century.
Virus Outbreak Sparks Toilet Roll Panic!
Bye-bye Handshakes.
Refugee Crisis Could Break the EU.
Investor Massacre May Be Near.
Mechanized Bots Amplifying Denialist Messages.
Bumblebees are Going Extinct.
Within each article, there is important news, and some of the information is certainly serious. Don’t misread what I am saying here.
But in almost every case above, the overstated hysteria of the headline is designed for one purpose: to grab attention and garner clicks.
Of course this might all be fine and good if the practice was not causing any harm. But the effect of constant overstated hysteria is not good for us as individuals or a society.
There are numerous studies connecting consumption of newscasts with anxiety—reflected in uncontrolled fear, physiological hyperarousal, sleeping difficulties, and fearful thoughts. Constant overstatement of the danger surrounding us is causing personal harm and division among us.
It is important to stay informed and I am not encouraging you to bury your head in the sand, ignoring world events. It is wise for each of us to read and stay educated on current happenings.
Additionally, I do suppose there is a chance, that at some point in the future, the world will end by some great catastrophe or political leader. At that point, hysteria will be warranted.
But at this point in time, from everything I can tell, most of the hysteria we see on websites and news channels is entirely manufactured for the purpose of grabbing attention and garnering clicks (or increasing viewership).
See through their manipulation. Your heart and soul will thank you for it.
About Joshua Becker
Hear, hear! I concur completely. Just a few short years ago, my husband worked for an online “news” website that made the bulk of its profits from “click-bait” types of headlines and “articles” (primarily on social media–before such platforms began cracking down on such practices and the spread of “fake news”). It was disgusting…and he didn’t last long there, I’m thankful to report. Thank you, Joshua, for sharing your insights and viewpoint in this piece. Stay safe in the desert! =)
This is literally what they teach you to do in Journalism classes. I guess bloggers and other internet writers wouldn’t understand that if you’ve never taken one of those classes. Good article otherwise.
Wise words. Thank you for this post.
You are SO right and thanks for addressing what I’ve been thinking all along. It’s very sad how many people are buying into the craziness of it all. While the virus is real, there were way more deaths last year from the flu and we heard nothing about it last year.
Thank you. Unfortunately there are too many people who make a lot of money with hysteria.
Thank you so much, Joshua, for your very astute and compassionate observation. I appreciate the reminder of peace… I’m not in control of all of it anyway, Someone else is. I will just take care of what I can in my own little world and entrust the rest into his hands.
I love all your articles but this here is GOLD
Thank you for stating what I have been thinking and seeing since this entire pandemonium started! The people need to keep calm and informed!
I agree with everything except the world probably ending by some catastrophe or political leader.
Great article! I only differ with one remark; “hysteria will be warranted.” –Not really. Hysteria would only worsen the situation, whatever it is. Hysteria always worsens a situation, which is why they used to slap people who went into hysterics. Just saying… ;)
So true!!! I recently read an article on how there is no toilet paper in Australia after all the wildfires and thought, “that is one thing I don’t want to run out of!”. Next thing I know, I was ordering a box of 48 rolls from Amazon. Was I worried before I read that article? Not one bit. Point proven!!
Thank you, Joshua, for being the Voice of Reason. I haven’t owned a television since 1986 and don’t browse the Internet for news. If something is truly important, my friends and family who are still connected let me know. TV and news are the modern version of “bread and circuses”, keeping our minds overloaded so our intelligence and logic are not engaged. That’s the best way to keep the left hand from “seeing” what the right hand is doing.
Great article to help us stay level-headed and clear in our thinking. Your articles and posts are very encouraging to me. Thank you!
Oh, you mean like Trumps tweets?
Please don’t bring politics into this site. Half the people here may hate Trump, while the other half here love him. Don’t assume.
Absolutely
This line jumped out at me: “Constant overstatement of the danger surrounding us is causing personal harm and division among us.” Sadly, there are topics I can no longer discuss with people I love. Division is the enemy’s favorite tool, and hysteria has created an environment where we must cling to truth like never before. Thank you for this excellent article. I plan to share it today.
Media literacy should be a compulsory part of all education, from Primary schools all the way to University. It’s such an important skill to have in the world today, where we are bombarded by information, lots of which isn’t factual to the least. Even newspapers drive some political agenda, and as long as news articles are written by human being, they can never be 100% objective. Nothing is ever black and white, and every action has a reaction.
Thank you for this!! I get so frustrated with the media hype and over emphasizing the negative. Yes, it is important to stay apprised of news, but even more important is for us to do our own research. I say no to unnecessary anxiety and fear!! Thanks you for this article and the reminder.
It frustrates me sometimes that, as an online writer, I must leverage clever titles and subheadings to attract readers. Sometimes an article calls for a more artful title, but I know it won’t attract as much attention. In this way, I feel the Internet diminishes quality writing at times.
Thank you for this! News is no longer news because it seems to evolved to chasing clicks. So frustrating! Great reminder to stop falling for the hysteria and maybe if we stop clicking on the bombastic rhetoric we can go back to just reporting facts.
Thank you for this! I don’t think we should blow important information off but the fear and constant stream of updates are very overwhelming. I saw a headline the other day in our local paper that read “Rash of Break-ins Plague Staunton Businesses” …they’re making us think about illness in other news stories, too. It’s way too much. You’re right, headlines can really pull people in.
Hi thanks for another wonderful article! I’m a stress coach and see how strongly media influences my clients attitude towards themselves and the world around them. Keep up the great work of shining the light of truth!
This article is so true! Hysteria articles can make me so exhausted, living simply and peacefully is so much nicer. 🤗
I’ve made it a practice to disengage from the web on Sundays. It gives my brain a chance to re calibrate to what is good, beautiful and true. Thanks for sharing your wisdom. Much appreciated!
This is so timely. I have recently been having panic attacks, and while they are unrelated to current events, I am discovering that consuming negative information is not conducive to my healing. Thank you for the reminder!
Yes! So true. I believe more people need to read this. Even in emergency situations, you never hear : please panic and cause chaos with your flight or fight instincts. Thank you for this article!
Thank you for your encouragement to calm, peaceful, and thoughtful living in a world of intentional chaos.
You’ve just hit on a major pet peeve of mine. Hysterical people. I’ve not considered internet headlines as a major driver of that, because I block it out. Hysteria is a foundation of stupidity. Enough years on the planet and one sees a pattern of this. There’s a certain mentality in response to these fear-mongering headlines.
Really, really, really GREAT article! Thanks for posting it. I’ve noticed this ‘hysteria’ aspect myself and refuse to read the accompanying article, often unfollowing or unsubscribing to the most egregious (in my opinion) purveyors of such non-news. Seems like the Media want us to be in a state of excitement all the time and if you can’t get there by being happy, well, then fear will do. Clicks don’t just mean ‘readers.’ Clicks mean advertising exposure. I want a peaceful life, so no thanks, popular media folks; I don’t want what you’re selling, either directly or indirectly. Thanks again for this post!
Joshua Becker! You know it already, but I’ll remind you here that you are doing important work in the world – namely bringing us Truth at a time in which understanding what’s going on is extremely important.
This discerning word about hysteria, if we’ll maintain our awareness, will keep us from succumbing to the pull of media, culture and the spirit of this age.
Thank you for the work you’re doing.
Thumbs up!
This post is spot on. As for myself, I have come to refer to the network news as the “daily fear report.” Sad, but true.
Great article, I have found that is also true with emails. I have minimized the number of emails I read by simply reading the title and deleting them. It may sound crazy but I’m getting two hundred emails a day and even when you try to unsubscribe it doesn’t work.
Thank you for your wise words.
Absolutely
I so agree. Some days I decide to “fast” from the media entirely, and it is a peaceful day!
Great idea!
Very well said. Thank you for sharing! I have to keep my eyes on God and His perspective to remind myself where my security is found. More time in scripture helps.
AMEN!!
Thank you for injecting a bit of sanity into all of this. Time to minimize news consumption to avoid further manufactured hysteria.
We need to be prepared (as for earthquakes and other disasters) but we need not panic.
Thanks so much for a timely article that will, I hope, dispel some of the fear people are feeling right now. I teach school and the kids are scared. We need to stop the scare tactics that are only making things worse.
Amen