Clickbait

This morning, while listening to the radio, my mother called me to ask, "Leah, what's 'clickbait'?" So I explained that it's a headline to tease someone into clicking a link, only to find that there's nothing particularly interesting on the webpage.

This afternoon in the Archives of Ontario, looking at microfilmed education files, I'm finding the clickbait of the early twentieth century. I could write a satirical conference paper pretending to draw out matters of substance from the most hideously dull, yet enticingly-titled, letters that I’ve found. We've all seen them: the files that are merely cover letters for other documents, acknowledgements of having received a package, and so forth, that somehow get their own individual file and a title for what the file would have been, if only it included the actual document, the actual package. The file that cruelly masquerades as a matter of substance and entices us to look inside (or scroll for ten minutes through a poorly labeled microfilm reel) only to find... “I beg sir to acknowledge the receipt of your favour of the fourth instant regarding [super exciting issue!] and will give it due consideration.” and...nothing more.