This Headline Will Make You Angry… And That’s the Point

If you own a screen, chances are you’ve come across alarming headlines like “Tylenol in pregnancy linked to autism!” Claims such as these have since been debunked, but the truth was never the point. It got your attention, and for some outlets, that’s all that really matters. That’s the power of clickbait, a not-so-small price to pay in this attention economy where your engagement can be monetized or even used to win elections.

Clickbait is online content crafted to grab attention and drive clicks, usually through sensational or exaggerated headlines. But it doesn’t just grab your attention; it can wear you down. Constant exposure to sensational headlines can be emotionally draining and trigger anxiety that leaves us feeling manipulated, mistrustful, and exhausted. Clickbait headlines are everywhere, but not all clickbait is the same.

To see how clickbait varies, Jieun Shin and colleagues analyzed 568 Facebook headlines from 95 U.S. news outlets. The headlines were sourced from both legacy organizations like The New York Times and digital-born outlets like Politico. Featured headlines centered largely on controversial topics like COVID-19 vaccines and job insecurity/employment. The media outlets were classified as conservative- and liberal-leaning platforms. After examining the headlines, researchers then categorized them into three types of bait:

• Rage bait: Headlines that use emotionally charged language—mockery, insults, or outrage cues to provoke anger and drive reactions.
• Information bait: Headlines that create curiosity gaps by withholding key details with the intent for readers to click for answers.
• Non-clickbait: Headlines that present straightforward, neutral framing.

Engagement metrics such as likes, shares, comments, and reactions were gathered for each post to gauge how clickbait types influenced audience interactions. These measures were then analyzed to determine how clickbait categories behaved across the different outlet groups. About 18% of headlines were categorized as rage bait, and 14% as information bait. When it came to audience engagement, rage bait was more effective than information bait.

In today’s attention economy, anger may outperform curiosity, but chasing outrage comes with a price.

Rage bait headlines generated far more engagement than other types, driving significantly higher numbers of shares, comments, and angry reactions. For example, the headline “Mom who died from COVID vaccine was coerced into receiving shot by government mandate” received strong interaction. Overall, rage bait posts were nearly three times more likely to be shared than non-clickbait content.

In contrast, information bait headlines like “I enrolled my kids under 12 in a COVID-19 vaccine trial. Here’s what happened.” consistently underperformed. These posts drew fewer likes, shares, and comments, indicating that curiosity-driven framing is less motivating for audiences.

The use of information bait did not differ significantly across outlet type or political affiliation. In contrast, digital-born outlets and conservative-leaning media were far more likely to use rage bait compared to traditional or liberal outlets. Although rage-driven clickbait is not used in every headline, it remains a powerful strategy for boosting engagement on social media platforms.

In today’s attention economy, anger may outperform curiosity, but chasing outrage comes with a price. The long-term costs of relying on anger to drive traffic. As audiences become fatigued, mistrustful, and increasingly polarized, the emotional toll of outrage-based content may far outweigh its engagement benefits. The more the news ecosystem leans on rage to capture clicks, the more it risks eroding the very public trust journalism depends on. This raises the uncomfortable question: who will the public believe the next time a crisis occurs?