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My frustration with digital advertising culture.

Are you ever actually shocked by all of the adverts, products, articles and headlines who claim to be so utterly life changing? You won’t believe these 10 incredible hacks that no one knows about! There are far too many clingy adjectives in that sentence to allow me the breathing room I need. And I seem to be endlessly inundated with communication that emulates that outrageous example.

What I can’t understand is why people continue to write this way. I know that today, attention is money, and this kind of enthusiastic, larger than life writing style seems as though it would bring more attention, and therefore more money. With my experience on the internet, though, I have found most of the media titled or advertised in this way to be ultimately disappointing. I am sure you have found the same in many cases. What was promised to be so unbelievable, was in fact unbelievably dull.

I now refuse to click on these articles, believing them all to be a waste of time or a scam in the worst case. But think of all of the people around the world who are still being paid and instructed to write this way. What?! I just don’t understand. I also feel that it discourages anyone who attempts to create genuinely interesting and impactful media that gets lost in the ocean of noise.

I want my feed to be filled with headlines of reasonable excitement, not wild copywriting mad libs that ultimately feel hollow. I hope that the way we choose to speak to an audience changes. I believe that people are more intelligent and curious than these overly saturated headlines give us credit for. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe our digital interactions will grow more and more encumbered by words that convey excitement, but are simply a facade. Maybe we will all live in the Metaverse, only consuming advertising disguised as entertainment. If that is the case, you will find me in a small village in Italy, growing tomatoes. The tastiest, most incredibly unbelievable tomatoes that you can order right now!