How to Stop being Exploited by Technology Companies
The generic, pseudo intellectual vapid emptiness of the majority of content on the internet is the biggest challenge of the 21st century.
The biggest issue of the day may be fake news, but what about information that eviscerates the mind? The stories/articles/posts that masquerades as life lessons/business advice and growth strategies written by ‘experts’, but in actual fact were written by a faceless entity with little regard for their effect, amounts to the majority of information consumed.
As platitudes like ‘fake it until you become it’ have grown in prevalence, we have embraced that message and consumed content unburdened by the fact that those offering the advice or knowledge aren’t qualified to do so.
What are you reading, what is influencing your thoughts?
My concern isn’t so much the rise of fake news, it’s the growth of opinionated pieces which are deceptive in their credentials. Personally, I view these pieces as being indicative of the Kardashianisation of society. They might look good for a while due to their aesthetic disingenuity , but ultimately they’re devoid of any substance or meaning. Their soul purpose for existence is to suffocate your attention and distract for their own benefit.
This is what the media has become.
Journalism is dying, the value of the expert has receded significantly, and any valuable content has been consumed into the homogeneous genericity of poluted noise.
An ability to identify the wheat from the chaff becomes increasingly valuable by the day. Can you identify value in a sea of distraction? Can you edit away the garbage and keep only the information that carries weight?
If so, it’s your responsibility to push this agenda more fervently.
Sitting watching how the current political climate is changing in front of our eyes bring this into focus. Sitting back and doing nothing is in reality doing something very real. It’s ignoring the opportunity to reject the ideals which seem to be entwining themselves within our society.
Be the change you want to see.
Ultimately it is our responsibility to adhere to a certain standard. Currently the quality of content, information and knowledge falls way below an acceptable level.
The volume of information available to humanity may be larger than at any other point in history, but there is a tremendous difference between quality and quantity.
Internet companies, you know who they are, have shirked their responsibility in regards to this in the name of corporate greed. This regression has happened on their watch. Personally, I don’t trust any of them to become the guardian of the knowledge being gifted to humanity.
The data they are mining could be utilised as a vehicle for change, a momentous gift to humanity which enables us to grow, create more effective systems and excel as a peoples together.
Instead they pilfer every penny, monopolise our personal information, and whore it out in the name of advertisement.
Carpe Diem.
Seize the day may be the message pedalled by our generation but the reality is that the day has already been seized from us. Our attention and time is the new oil, and it is being mined relentlessly by increasinly sophisticated alogrythms to elongate our time spent on certain websites.
Our emotional states are being manipulated by multi-national billion dollar enterprises to make us feel certain ways to make us take certain actions.
Ignorance isn’t the answer.
Trust me, I’ve tried. Divorcing yourself from all forms of social media doesn’t work. It’s like deciding not to go to a party, it just happens without you.
It’s a cyclical process. The majority of information being created is garbage, what is required is a curated approach.
The most effective process would be the rise of an independent entity which operates as a curator for these large social networks. An in house approach won’t work, they are part to any internal bias which is ruling the day.
When these networks are influencing public sentiment as ardently as they are, when they are failing to acknowledge their influence in the ruling of entire countries, something needs to be done.
Can we win?
We must reclaim our personal information for a start. Lack of privacy bothers me, but that is the price of ‘free’. Google reading your emails, facebook selling your private information to the highest bidder.
The answer isn’t free.
Trade unions obviously had their problems, understatement of the century perhaps, but they come from the right place. They defend the freedoms of their members with severe reproach for the offenders hurting them.
Perhaps they are onto something.
Maybe the answer to the internets problems isn’t individual actions, perhaps it’s a collective march to become the change everyone wants to see.
The answer is representation. It is negotiation collectively to bargain for all the rights that we deserve while ensuring we received them.
For too long we have been exploited by monopolised enterprise but the internet offers a route to fight back.
We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.
Alone we are weak, together we are strong.
Sign up and feel our power grow together
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