Social Media

Social media tools like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and others have been a great way to reconnect with old acquaintances, stay in touch with friends both near and far, discover topics of interest, and join pyramid schemes. It hasn’t come without a cost, though. I’ve spent a fair portion of my career interacting with this industry, and we’re learning that the cost is much higher than bargained for.

The downside is that these tools sandbox us into beliefs that do not reflect reality. They are designed to show us what we are looking for, which provides a false sense of reality. Many like to vilify the creators of these tools, but that is not the case. It’s the classic story of death by 1,000 cuts. Running a company like Facebook requires millions of dollars per month to power the hundreds of thousands of servers throughout the world that make it work. TL;DR- those servers aren’t free. How much are you paying for their service?

If you aren’t paying for it, you’re the product.

A key point to understand is how these companies make money (and must make money, or they go out of business). As you scroll through your timeline, you see a mix of posts from your friends and posts from advertisers. The advertisers pay to put their posts on your timeline; your friends don’t. The standard metric determining success is the amount of time you spend in the app. More time in the app = more ads = more revenue, so the algorithm is constantly being tweaked to keep you engaged with the app. Everything you do within the app is measured. If you pause on a post while scrolling, it’s measured. If you scroll back up to a post, it’s measured. Even if it’s something you disagree with. These metrics are combined to find and display similar posts to keep you engaged.

This becomes problematic when you see a post that really pisses you off. This is common on social media, where people can say things they wouldn’t say in real life.

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. – Mike Tyson

You pause. You read it. You vent your frustration about it. God forbid if you comment on it. Now your timeline rapidly fills up with similar stories. You see one story after another on this topic. With this many stories on the subject, this must be a huge problem.

Not necessarily.

It’s just the result of a computer algorithm mimicking the behaviors you’ve trained it to perform. Unfortunately, this has already impacted your views and beliefs. You’ve now seen sufficient evidence that this thing must be true. It impacts your mood, conversations with friends, and actions in the real world. The damage has been done.

You can’t unring a bell. – Larry Goins

So how do you combat this?

The first step is to restrict your time spent on social media. Use it as needed, but no more.

Second, understand that social media is not reality. Remember the National Enquirer tabloids from decades past? Yeah- that’s exactly how much credibility things you see on social media deserve. Rank anything you read right next to Bigfoot spotted riding the Lochness Monster in the Wal Mart parking lot.

Third, rule #2 applies to all sources of data. That includes posts from organizations that you would assume are credible. The more credibility you give them, the less they likely deserve it. Remember, they are all in the business of luring you to their website to show you ads that make them money. Truth is not the metric; the number of clicks is.

Finally, understand it’s not a conspiracy. It is a platform that has spiraled out of control because we didn’t understand the implications of it. Although we’ve seen the full scope of our actions, unraveling it isn’t as easy as we’d hoped. Entire companies and, by proxy, the livelihood of millions of families employed by these companies now depend on the revenue generated.

Safeguard your mind and the information you allow into it. Exercise the same principle you use to safeguard your home, car, and family. If this topic interests you and you’d like to learn more about it, Netflix has a great documentary on the subject [here], or you can talk to me about it… just not on social media. 🤣

Today’s Tasks

Don’t forget to complete today’s tasks for the challenge.

  • Drink 1 gallon of water
  • Workout for 45 minutes
  • Read ten pages from your book
  • Stick to your meal plan
  • Meditate
  • Hit that cold shower, there are still a lot of boxes to check there, and the weather (along with the water) is only getting colder!

Once completed, head to the tracking site and mark them as completed to track your progress for the challenge. Tomorrow’s topic: No.One.Cares.