We've all seen them.

I was scrolling through facebook one lazy Sunday afternoon trying to find tips leading towards a better lifestyle when I came across a link that claimed it could identify the development of cancer if you were suffering from specific physical irritations. After finding out yet another person that I know was suffering from a severely developed stage of cancer, I was paranoid enough to give into the clickbait. Reading into clickbait seems like such a small and trivial act at first, but trust me, the psychological repercussions are more harmful than you think.

After years of falling victim to these sites, I've slowly begun to realize how toxic their psychological effect has on our lives. If we were to die tomorrow, I wouldn't want to know the details. Honestly, I believe the idea of how and when we are going to pass only taints the time we have in life. Why spend the time we have breathing worrying about things that are out of our control, especially when it comes to the idea of ceasing to exist?

Unfortunately, these clickbait sites are masters when it comes to fulfilling their purpose. They are able to take the daily activities we aren't aware of anymore and manipulate us into thinking the various components that make up our lifestyle have toxic elements that wear down on our mortality. Then they offer alluring alternatives that promise to release us from all our troubles. If you think about it, the less than pleasant purposes of clickbait sites cause serious doubt when it comes to how they are affecting the psychological wellbeing of our society as a whole.

I've noticed, in these cases, whenever my curiosity overrules my better judgment and I give into the temptation of clickbait sites, I come out the other side with a much darker interpretation of what my purpose is in life and a negative view of how I see myself. These sites control how viewers live by manipulating them into changing the lifestyle choices that might be beneficial for their personal situation.

You know what the worst part of this situation that abuses the influential power of social media? Their motives are purely self-centered. Most of the information used in these click-baits aren't scientifically proven and fluctuate depending on the product they want to sell or the information they need to spread for advertisement purposes.

So whenever you feel tempted to click on sites that offers an elixir to eternal life that seems suspiciously too good to believe, don't believe it. You will find yourself crawling down a rabbit hole that will only deteriorate your wellbeing and mental health. You will also be feeding into the influence these sites have on our society by adding unearned credibility to information that is harming our psychological health.