The world wide web, a series of tubes we call the internet, didn’t enter households until the 1990s. Years passed before news sites moved their content online and starting publishing “clickbait.” Clickbait is almost the digital equivalent of tabloid headlines, a catchy or shocking assembly of words meant to entice readers.
Now some nostalgic folks on Twitter are attempting to retroactively create clickbait-y headlines for cultural highlights of the 1980s, with the hashtag appropriately dubbed #clickbaitfromthe80s. For example, one of the post is a how-to for Michael Jackson’s famous moonwalk.
Some posts evoke playful moments from John Hughes movies or David Bowie. Others are foreshadowing the horrific future with headlines about Bill Cosby or O.J. Simpson.
If you’re like me (someone born in the mid-'90s), some of these posts might escape your cultural lexicon, but for the most part the hashtag is a blast from the past and there’s not a cell phone in sight.
Enjoy more of #clickbaitfromthe80s below.