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The rise of fake news may have duped a lot of us over the years—especially the Boomer and elderly set—but when it comes to the younger generations, it seems they're nobody's fool.
A group of fourth graders was asked to come up with their own clickbait headlines, and suffice to say, the kids are on to you, fake-news types.
The expertly crafted clickbait comes from an elementary school class in New York City, and they're nothing short of genius. School library director Ingrid Conley-Abrams assigned the clickbait project to the students as part of a lesson on media literacy and identifying bias.
After seeing the results she simply had to share them on Twitter—where they immediately went viral for obvious reasons. Conley-Abrams told Mashable she was as surprised at the kids' flair for clickbait, as many of us likely are.
But the ones in her first tweet, featuring an ominous coffin and a menacing cabal of conspiring dogs, really blew Conley-Abrams' mind—especially since they came from the same obviously (and maybe dangerously?) ingenious kid.
Just finished the 4th grade lesson plan on clickbait, and I gave the 4th graders the opportunity to create their ow… https://t.co/Yr7rhkIxKl— ᵐˣ. ᶦⁿᵍʳᶦᵈ (@ᵐˣ. ᶦⁿᵍʳᶦᵈ) 1600348432.0
Ingrid Conley-Abrams
As she told Mashable, for Abrams-Conley, the bit of evil-dog clickbait really took the cake.
"That one with the use of very on-brand clickbait punctuation, you know, inexplicable punctuation and too much of it, I thought that genius and I would love to click on that. I'd love to know about secret dog meetings."
Who among us wouldn't‽‽
Ingrid Conley-Abrams
Other submissions for from Conley-Abrams' assignment include a clickbait story about LeBron James that insists it's not clickbait and another that claims Snow White is actually the villain of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs—because of something to do with a roasted turkey...
Ingrid Conley-Abrams
Ingrid Conley-Abrams
Ingrid Conley-Abrams
You kinda wish you could click on that one, don't you‽‽
People online found them all so creative that Conley-Abrams was accused of faking the whole thing, but she assured Mashable she's simply not that creative—or creepy.
But even the creepiest among them provided Conley-Abrams some much needed levity.
"...[E]ven the ones that are creepy there's something really joyful about them... I very much, honestly, needed the laughs."
And on Twitter, people pretty much unanimously agreed.
@MagpieLibrarian This is the funniest thing I've seen in weeks. I love them - J— Heather & Jessica (@Heather & Jessica) 1600359583.0
@MagpieLibrarian 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭— my stepson is my cyber husband (@my stepson is my cyber husband) 1600357461.0
@MagpieLibrarian "This 4th grade teacher had her kids write clickbait headlines and you will not believe the results!"— Lara Lawlor (@Lara Lawlor) 1600357946.0
@MagpieLibrarian @LadyKateBond I’m trying to click here to learn more but it isn’t redirecting me, please help, I n… https://t.co/TVRQkK5VNs— tara platt (@tara platt) 1600454826.0
@MagpieLibrarian …the world needs a thread of these. If there are more where these came from, I'm fully on board.— Tasha Robinson (@Tasha Robinson) 1600367714.0
@CraycraftBrett @MagpieLibrarian Seriously, I am very excited to learn more about where and why these dogs (or "so-… https://t.co/noLb9XsUxb— Tasha Robinson (@Tasha Robinson) 1600367678.0
@MagpieLibrarian Please tell me more about the midnight animal conspiracy— President_Ark (@President_Ark) 1600358223.0
@MagpieLibrarian I have a doctorate in Clickbait and can confirm these headlines WIN. THE. INTERWEBS. I hope that kid’s family is alive.— Adam Mordecai (@Adam Mordecai) 1600378455.0
@MagpieLibrarian I love that the 2nd one implies the dead are doing the clicking :).— Mr C (@Mr C) 1600361449.0
So there you have it.
Take heart in the knowledge that while the rest of us might be easily duped, the kids are alright!
Keep an eye on your dogs though, in case they're up to something...
