It hasn’t been a good year for celebrities. First Sylvester Stallone stole Leonardo di Caprio’s pink Cadillac and crashed it on Sunset Boulevard. Then grumpy cat was declared a fraud after he was papped smiling. To make matters worse, Sofia Vergara was voted the ugliest woman in the world. Matthew McConaughey was so shocked that he went on a moody rampage.

Except none of this is true. And yet, I got e-mails screaming in my mailbox saying that it is true and that I had to log on and view exclusive footage. And while I was at it, I might also consider clicking on this video here, which shows a kitten doing something no other kitten has done before (chasing its tail). Oh, and here are some pop-ups, flying over my screen like reckless fireworks, which you need to click before you can view any exclusive footage.

I don’t go on Facebook any more. If I did, I would think that the world was ending with a bang of celebrities gone wild, pets taking over households, Miley Cyrus committing yet another fashion crime, and friends of friends vowing support against the black death, whaling and opium.

Don’t believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose- Douglas Adams

Let’s just do an experiment. I’ve just logged on to Facebook. The first news item that comes up on my wall is that Buddy Valastro, also known as Cake Boss, was pulled over by New York City police and found to have been driving under the influence of one drink. A couple of scrolls later, I’m advised about eight things that I have to do in my 20s so that I can find success later on. One of these essentials is that I must become friends with my parents. Really now?

Yes, it’s all stupid news. Actually, it’s not news at all. And yet, Buzzfeed – which specialises in such headlines as ‘Riff Raff will cook your mom a lobster dinner for $7,500’ and ‘A sleeping puppy’s favourite song comes on and he wakes up and sings’ – gets an average of 70 million visitors a month. Time magazine’s website, on the other hand, only gets nine million.

But it’s all a bit of innocent fun, right? Well, yes if you consider mouse clicking to be a sport. And no if you realise that even serious news sites are using clickbait – splashing sensationalist headlines to attract click-throughs and generate online advertising – at the expense of accurate and quality news. And it’s a vicious circle: the more death hoaxes and cat-related news you click and share, the more are generated.

So as you’re cooking up your new year resolutions, consider making one about not reading stupid news. You probably won’t heed my advice. Well, if I added a gaggle of exclamation marks and the photo of a dog giving a kitten a wash, you probably would.

techeditor@timesofmalta.com