That Link From My Feed Led Me Somewhere I Didn’t Expect — And Taught Me Something About Trusting My Gut

Last Tuesday I did the thing we all do at 11pm when we should be sleeping: I clicked a random link in my feed. It took me to a page I’d never heard of, and honestly, my first instinct was to close the tab. But I didn’t. I scrolled. And what I found got me thinking about something I talk about with my girlfriends all the time — how do we decide what’s worth our attention, and who’s worth our trust?

I’m not going to pretend this was some life-changing discovery. It was just a small website by an author I didn’t know. But the whole experience became a little mirror for how I move through the internet these days — half curious, half guarded, and always wondering who’s on the other side of the screen.

My 11pm Clicking Habit (And Why I Don’t Feel Bad About It)

Confession: I am a serial late-night clicker. After the dishes are done and the house finally goes quiet, I curl up on the couch with a cup of tea and just… wander. One article leads to another, and suddenly it’s midnight and I’ve read about sourdough starters, a stranger’s travel diary, and someone’s opinions on the best pens for journaling. (The pen one was genuinely useful. No regrets.)

For a long time I felt a little guilty about this habit. Like I should be doing something productive instead. But I’ve decided it’s actually one of the ways I stay curious, and curiosity is something I want to protect. Not everything has to have a purpose. Sometimes wandering is the point.

That said, my late-night clicking has also made me much more careful about where I wander. Here’s what I’ve learned to do, and I’d love to hear if you do the same:

• I check who’s writing. If there’s an author page, I click it. I want to know if this is a real person with a real voice, or just content churned out to fill space.
• I look for the human details. A specific story, an opinion, a tiny bit of messiness — those are the things that tell me someone actually wrote this.
• I trust my gut when something feels off. If a page feels like it’s trying too hard to sell me something, I close the tab. No guilt, no second thoughts.

None of this is complicated. It’s just the internet version of looking someone in the eye before you decide to keep chatting.

The Little Voice That Says “Hmm, Not Sure About This One”

A few months ago I was telling my friend Dana about a website I’d stumbled on, and she asked me, “But did you actually trust it?” I laughed, because I hadn’t even thought about it that way. I’d read the whole thing without ever asking myself whether I believed it.

That question stuck with me. Because we do this all the time, don’t we? We read, we scroll, we absorb — without ever pausing to ask whether the source deserves our attention. And I’m not just talking about big scary things like misinformation. I mean the everyday stuff: the product review that’s secretly an ad, the article that’s really just a sales pitch, the author page that tells you absolutely nothing about the person behind the words.

So now I’ve made it a little ritual. When I land somewhere new, I ask myself three quiet questions:

• Does this feel like it was written by a person, for people?
• Is there anything here that’s trying a little too hard to convince me?
• Would I send this to a friend, or would I quietly close the tab and forget it?

It takes about ten seconds, and it’s saved me from more than a few rabbit holes I didn’t need to go down. More importantly, it’s made me feel more in charge of my own attention. Which, let’s be honest, is a currency none of us can afford to waste.

What I’m Taking With Me

Here’s the thing I keep coming back to: the internet is full of strangers, and most of them are just people — writing in their spare time, sharing what they know, hoping someone out there finds it useful. That’s kind of beautiful, actually. But it also means we get to be choosy. We get to decide who we spend our late-night scrolling on.

I don’t need every website I visit to be perfect or polished. I just want it to feel real. I want to sense a person behind the words. And when I don’t feel that, I’m giving myself permission to close the tab without a second thought.

So that’s my little takeaway from one random 11pm click: stay curious, stay a little skeptical, and trust the voice in your head that says “hmm, not sure about this one.” It’s usually right. And if you’re ever unsure, ask a friend like Dana. She’ll set you straight.

What about you — do you have a gut-check ritual for the links you click? I’d love to hear it. 🤍