Somebody needs to write a book about the psychology of clickbait thumbnails. Why do so many "content creators" feel compelled to make outrageous faces? Who sees this
and thinks "oh yes, that's a sane professional whose advice I can trust"? They're all doing it for a reason, I just don't know what that reason could be. Do viewers respond well to this sort of thumbnail? I don't. I hate them with a burning passion. I go out of my way to avoid clicking on any videos with people mugging like wojaks
I don't know why, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it has something to do with the overall infantilization of the internet. Everything is being dumbed down for 12 year olds and ipad babies, a whole generation with no attention span (not their fault, it's bad parenting), so I feel like these faces are meant to trigger some lizardbrain curiosity, "gee, I wonder what these guys are so excited about."
I don't know, maybe I'm just an old man yelling at clouds. I'm only 28 but I'm not "with it." I was never "with it." When I was a kid, I didn't understand what "it" was, and now what's "it" is even more different from that. I exist outside of mainstream culture, looking in.