Social media is yet another way in which we’re all willingly being used as lab rats! Photo © Corbett Report
On 6 August 1991, almost twenty eight years ago, the World Wide Web became publicly available. This gave birth to a whole new technology which would fundamentally change the world as we know it. There’s a multitude of ways August 6, 1991 changed the world but one thing I’m sure we’ll all agree on is since its release the world’s never been quite the same. We’ve changed to such an extent that for many what determines a good day is just a simple hit of dopamine.
If either of these symbols determines anything about your self worth you have a serious addiction problem.
A thumb’s up or a like on a simple Tweet will literally make or break people’s day. A thumb’s up and hey I’m great however if the opposite occurs can affect many to the extent of causing severe depression. What others think do or say now determines how we feel. Currently a large majority process their temperament and self-worth from the outside in. This major shift on how we process estimations from others has serious concerns attached to it… concerns that we all should be paying more attention to.
Not long after the initial release the first awkward 1.0 web site’s soon yielded the way to faster more sophisticated web sites. From there it wasn’t long before the blogosphere appeared which in itself changed the way we now communicate. However what followed blogging is what should be credited for altering the lives of so many. This next technology would change most people’s lives forever. We were introduced to the next level in this technology evolution. We were introduced to social media. In my opinion an evolution equal in grandeur to the releasing of the World Wide Web itself.
Besides transforming how we communicate social media has altered a significant number of our behaviors and individualisms. Take for example acquaintances; acquaintances have now morphed into what’s called friendships. If you’re not sure what I mean just ask anyone glued to their Facebook page for most of the day. They’ll mention ludicrous statements about having 1000’s of friends, but ask them have they physically met many? Chances one or two out of the total number given. There’s one significant change quietly swept under the carpet so few even noticed. What determines a friend from an acquaintance thanks in a large part to social media has changed forever.
Because of social media people’s perceptions have radically changed. In our current society it’s considered absolutely normal that the second question asked following what’s your name is what do you do? Perception has been altered by social media’s to an “I am what I do and I am what I own mentality.” If lacking either the current perception of many would place you near a zero and it wasn’t that way just a few decades back, so our perceptions have also been tampered with.
Next area I’d like to call to your attention to is family and personal relationships. While I could author a paperback on this one subject alone I’ve dovetailed it into the following few remarks. Haven’t you noticed how trusting one another trusting family our elected officials and our Governments have transformed. The value of a person’s word as being their bond has long since sailed. Today it’s a sign on the dotted line environment and even that carries minimal weight.
As a divided species we now suffer from the addiction to judge others. Judgment has become a moral right even praised when just a few decades prior we were all taught how wrong it was to judge others. This represents almost a complete 180 degree shift over the last couple of decades.
Even though bloggers such as myself habitually reinforce the fact that these changes take time and won’t shift on a moments notice still only reach minimal percentages. Sad there’s so many deaf ears in our citizenry. We as a collective are going to be paying a hefty price for our ignorance. Perhaps we already are.
Tolerance is another part of our lives that’s been adversely effected by the social media’s. Because of this new found lack of tolerance we’ve been broken down further into smaller more controllable groups than ever before. Now you’re either with me or against me. There’s no more being neutral about anything that’s debatable. We now have to take sides. It’s black or white right or left religious or atheist straight or gay male or female or transvestite.
Let’s toss in the millennials conservatives republicans and democrats while we’re at it and make a real mixed salad out of our present situation. Social media in a large part is responsible for us as a species being divided like never before and because of it we now identify like never before! So let me ask you. Do you not think this is done by design? Did you ever contemplate this whole deal is a grand plan with an end goal affixed to it?
As social media communities continued to grow it wasn’t long that Governments and military’s rapidly figured out how to use this widely accepted technology to spread their propaganda and it’s working. The one way I know for sure is welcome to the new arms race! I sometimes wonder if we’ll ever learn from our past mistakes. We just seem to keep repeating them. Where do you think this is eventually leading? Think history readers!
To best answer the above question about done by design and what’s really behind the curtin I’m posting an excellent short YouTube within this post. This no nonsense video touches on several thought provoking realities and is well worth watching. In one segment the narrator speaks about DARPA’s involvement in Social Medias. DARPA’s deep involvement using social media’s as a tool. A technology designed to be used against you the end user. Its name is Social Media In Strategic Communication (SMISC) for short. Anyone not taking this seriously is sadly mistaken, in fact I’d say downright closed minded and foolish.
The YouTube ID of 0dL8vt1n-f8 is invalid.
Quoting Corbett “more and more of the original developers of social media sites admit they no longer use it themselves and actively keep it away from their children. Because they understand the depths of some of the effects” People have committed suicide on account of being cyber bullied! All social media’s share one commonality. They exploit human vulnerabilities! Its whole purpose is to make you confused and its working seamlessly. Nobody’s taking notice.
The whole purpose of this post is not to determine whether this or any other technology is good or bad. That will always be determined by the inheritor. The point of this post is all about balance. How either too much or too little of anything represents a state of being out of balance. Both are describing a state of disease (dis-ease) stress confusion and ultimately illness. Social media’s have shifted a major portion of humanity out of balance with reality. Then again it’s my opinion that was the whole purpose from the start or DARPA wouldn’t need to be involved.
Perhaps that’s one of the reasons we felt the need to tune out a bit and relocate so long ago. Eventually we settled in this quiet little hub called Cabrera but there are many others to choose from. It’s been over a decade now and we’re still glad we did. Are we affected here in Cabrera? Sure we are… to varying degrees we’re all affected. However it does add value to a statement I’ve made many times before. The question you’re facing is not will I be affected but to what degree will I be affected? For most living in the town of Cabrera I’d have to say the answer to that would be minimal.
I suppose you could say Cabrera is our version of a simple hit of dopamine. Years back I coined the phrase Cabrera is like Mayberry with Internet. A decade later and while there’s been changes however for the greater part still holds true today. For most folks living in Cabrera whether they realize it or not Cabrera helps provide a better balanced life style. The ancient cultures knew balance was the key to unlocking the mind and the same key still fits today’s locks. For problems on a personal level even on a global level you’ll find balance is the universal key that opens all the locks. One good thing about balance is it’s never too early or too late to begin cutting your own key. Until next time.
