There are some dumb headlines out there. I mean, I get it, titles are tough. But, what’s worse than a bad title is when the title is the entire content. I am easily sucked into the never-ending scrolling on Facebook, but I had to stop recently when I read the headline “Here’s the One Breakfast Favorite That Pippa Middleton Says She Will Never Eat.”
Now, I have nothing against Pippa Middleton. I just don’t care about her breakfast food preferences. More importantly, I think it’s ridiculous for anyone to care about something so trivial about another person to the extent where they feel it is necessary to write an article about it.
On one hand, it was People magazine, so what was I expecting really? But on the other, People magazine has a pretty big following, which means that more and more people will start caring about “facts” like this one.
I can understand the need for a company to get page views or sell their product, but it’s just so hard to respect these businesses when they feed off of idolizing people and manipulating others into caring.
What’s the point of creating something if it has no substance?
People today rarely care about the quality of what they bring into their lives, it’s all about the quantity. I will admit, I have fallen into the pattern as well. I found myself caring about Kardashian pregnancy rumors and announcements, but I dragged myself back out of it.
I realized that what happens in their lives has nothing to do with me. Plus, I can’t stand their presence in every media outlet.
The reason businesses, social media, and basically any influential aspect of our lives are pulling this off is because the rest of us have told them it’s okay. That we want the trends, rumors, and unimportant details instead of potentially important and impactful strides made in our society or around the world.
It saddens and disappoints me to say that I could more easily tell you about Pippa’s dislike of bacon, than the decisions of the American government.
For those who like reading about these things: why? I can’t pretend to support or encourage your actions because they aren’t doing anyone any good. How is it going to help you by knowing trivia about some celebrity? And the people at the focus of these videos and articles are being given unwanted and unneeded attention.
We are promoting a society that allows and supports the spread of “fluff” information instead of facts and events that will matter to us and for us.
Since companies like People have such a huge following and reader base, why not use that as an advantage to spread quality content? Ask deeper questions and cover more important things than royal children going to school. Like, come on, they're kids. It’s a normal thing they do.
It would be great if, to start, we become more aware of what we read and subject ourselves to. It may seem like just a simple click and a second’s glance, but we are (sometimes) unknowingly supporting these insults to journalism.