Last updated on July 6th, 2025 at 03:15 pm

Have you ever followed a link and been surprised by what you saw or regretted doing it? Have your kids? If so, ask yourself this question: “Do you your kids share any devices with any other members of your family?”

That’s an important question because of the potential dangers associated with Clickbait. In addition to having family members fighting over devices because of how much time can be lost to being sucked down a rabbit hole, there are more serious consequences that can happen, as you will see.

Clickbait is any teaser to a link meant to entice people to follow the link. The reasons behind the motivation for clickbait typically:

• To drive traffic to a website, usually to sell advertising based on traffic volume or click rates.
• To create phishing attacks, spread malicious files, or steal confidential information.
• To influence people’s opinion based on biased “reporting” that is presented as being fair.
• To cause users, mainly young children, to spend money that their parents may not even realize is happening.

The dangers involved with clicking on dangerous links include spreading misinformation, eroding trust in online content, wasting a person’s time, causing emotional damage to readers, introducing viruses/malware, and more! For these reasons, everyone should learn the telltale signs of Clickbait and know how to avoid it before it’s too late.

Look For the Signs

Clickbait often uses emotional triggers, especially fear, excitement, or humor to get the reader’s attention. Once hooked, readers are often taken down a rabbit hole that they’d rather avoid. To lure in unsuspecting readers, Clickbait often uses over-the-top headlines that include phrases such as:

• “Only 30% Can Pass this Quiz. Can You?”
• “This Will Blow Your Mind!”
• “10 Ways to XXXXX and You Won’t Believe the Last One!”
• “What this Mayor Announced During her Last Town Meeting Will Leave You Speechless.”

Other possible telltale signs of Clickbait are articles with a misleading thumbnail/preview image, using frequent CAPS in the headlines, asking questions in the headline instead of using declaratives, and having the reader click on a <NEXT> or <MORE> button to continue reading the story.

Parents need to be particularly concerned with Clickbait that is specifically designed to target their children. Unlike “traditional” Clickbait, kids will likely come across it where parents are least likely to expect it – where their kids are playing games. In the case of games, pop-up ads called Loot Boxes can easily lure kids to places where their parents won’t want them to go, where they will be able to get a small value freebie for the game, but where the real goal is to get the child to purchase an expensive item that will give them an advantage in the game. For this reason, never have your phone, tablet or other device automatically linked to your credit card or bank account.

Another problem that can occur with Clickbait is ransomware. Ransomware is a specific type of malware that blocks a user out from using their computer and only lets them back in after they pay a fee (ransom). If ransomware is involved, where a virus is downloaded and only erased (hopefully) after the device owner pays a fee to the hacker, the costs could literally be in the millions of dollars. For more information on Ransomware, watch this video from IBM.

Problems with Clickbait include both ethical and legal issues. The ethical issues about wasting people’s time following links that provide no real value or answers are troubling enough. The legal issue in causing damage to someone’s devices can cost people hundreds or more in repair costs. In some cases, data such as work, or school related information may be irrevocably lost.

An informed reader/user is the best the best defense against getting caught by Clickbait. To avoid being caught by disreputable websites that may carry malware, here are some things that students can do:

1. Look for Verified Sites
Google vets millions of websites and provides the “Google Guaranteed Badge”, a green checkmark, to show which sites should be safe to use. Typically, only those sites that have received a badge will appear at the top of the search results, but on more abstract topics, it is possible that sites that have not earned the badge will appear at the top of search results.

2. Don’t take the Bait
Avoid headlines that sound outlandish. Legitimate websites rarely use headlines with outlandish wording. The most likely exception to this is when news organizations post opinions or editorials online, as they are typically not vetted in the same way as news articles.

3. Protect Your Privacy
Never give out your personal information to untrusted sources, including email addresses. Once on email lists, people may become acclimated to the emails and begin to trust them when they shouldn’t. To get removed from unwanted email lists, most legitimate sources have an unsubscribe feature. If that’s not an option, the email address should be blocked. To get removed from unwanted email lists, read this article by PC Magazine.

4. Protect Your Devices
Install anti-virus software to help prevent malware and identify risky sites. Keep in mind that there is often a lag time from when a new malware source goes live until anti-viral software can identify it and prevent it from attacking a device.

5. Use Google Scholar

Whenever possible, students should use Google Scholar for school assignments. The sites returned by Google Scholar have already been vetted for accuracy and reliability, which precludes the possibility for Clickbait. It may eliminate some potentially good sources, but students can rest assured that the sites it does provide to them will be acceptable for schoolwork.

6. Do Not Click on Links from Unknown Sources

Scammers are very good at sending emails that appear to come from legitimate sources. Everyone should read the email address carefully to make sure that it’s authentic. They may transpose letters that look like a legitimate source at a glance or use a link with an existing word that looks like an official website but is a fake. Scammers often send messages through Facebook Messenger saying that your account is going to be suspended and should be ignored.

Similarly, avoid clicking on links sent by friends, as they may have been tricked, so just because it came from someone a person knows (and trusts) doesn’t mean that it’s safe.

Last, by moving the mouse over a link, look for the preview of where it will take someone without actually clicking on the link. In my previous article for Pediatric Safety, it appears that there are three links that will all take the user to the Google home page.

However, if a user moves the mouse over the three links but does not click on the link, users can see where the link will actually go by looking at the preview link. This is typically in the lower left corner of the screen. As the mouse is moved over the three versions of the Google link, notice the true destination of the three versions.

Keep in mind that this is not a feature to cellphones, which makes it much easier to trick people to using clickbait to trap themselves with a virus.

Takeaways

At its best, Clickbait wastes people’s time, providing little if anything in return. At its worst, it can literally cause millions of dollars in damages and related costs. The risks associated with Clickbait grow much faster on shared devices, where the mistake made by one person can impact the entire family, especially on a shared network. Being able to recognize potential Clickbait is the first step to avoiding it. As the saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

With some awareness of what’s involved, families can avoid Clickbait or at least minimize the risks. Learning about them as you are now is a good beginning.