There’s a good chance that the Internet has tricked you once. Accidentally buying something you didn’t mean to, agreeing to something that gave away your data, or clicking an ad that looked like native content. These are traps known as Dark Patterns. They are psychological design elements that turn you into a puppet – forcing you to fall exactly into behavior that a website planned for you. From Amazon to Ziggy’s Zigars, every website uses them.

What are Dark Patterns? And how can you avoid them?