Buzzfeed is taking the Internet by storm. The news and entertainment site was begun in 2006 and has recently become the fastest-growing web site.

Almost 40 million viewers visit the site to read articles such as “50 Puppies To Help You Get Through Work Today” and “20 Things People Who Hate Mornings Know To Be True.”

Though the site encourages a large population to read regularly, the featured material is often far from intellectually engaging but incredibly addictive. BuzzFeed’s superficial material is interesting for readers but less beneficial than the content of leading newspapers.

People are drawn to the web site to fill themselves with mindless information and for pure enjoyment.

BuzzFeed is often an extension of topics found on social media web sites. It offers nothing much to spark thinking or intellectual engagement and even occasionally pokes fun at current political issues.

In addition, a majority of the featured articles consists solely of lists with one sentence and picture per point. It emphasizes visuals over linguistics: visitors can easily scroll through a multitude of aimless articles in a matter of minutes without gaining any actual knowledge. Stories rely on bullet points rather than traditional stories that are more complex which mitigates the actual learning.

The site is further expanding by making popular videos, also trivial, including topics such as “Awkward Things People Say To Soldiers” and “What It Is Like To Feel Lonely.”

Furthermore, some of BuzzFeed’s information is from other web sites, often screenshots of content from other sites like Instagram and Tumblr. In fact, in June 2014, the site fired its politics editor Benny Johnson for plagiarizing.

Still, the site has has recently begun to cover serious news stories. It has taken to hiring “real” journalists in 2014 as well as sending such reporters to cover hard news in Ukraine, Liberia and Turkey. However, few visit the site for such articles because they are more quickly drawn to the humorous, entertaining stories. This site encourages people to avoid actual world events and focus more on pop culture. Its dubious credibility also limits it.

BuzzFeed is good to visit occasionally for entertainment purposes. Visitors should be careful, however, of wasting too much time and believing incredible stories from unreliable sources.