There is a good chance if you have been on any social media platform, shopping site, media page, or watch television or a streaming platform, you have been subject to several types of tactics to get your attention.

Whether it be the good old click-bait tactics, shock factor, or algorithm using tailored information about you to present you with a high probability factor of engaging. This goes, as well, with influencing several factors in your life as well. Hence where the name “influencers” come from.

What is it that makes a large number of individuals able to be influenced and/or subject to schemes to get your attention?

There are many answers to this, and many books and research have been published on this phenomenon. Thing is, this started many years ago, all the way back to the beginning of humankind. It has obviously gained traction since the dawn of written publications and turned into a firestorm with television, radio, and now the information age.

Is this good for our society?

The simple answer is no. The more complicated answer is how do we change this out-of-control freight train? Think about this.

Our youth fantasize and worship absolute nonsense and the people and things they see on Instagram, Tik Tok, and other media channels do the absolute extreme to get “likes” and “followers”. Anything for a like, an insult, or to drool.

This in turn works the same as it has for the last 100 years or more. A lifestyle and ideology are set by a small group or individual who convinces others this all leads to happiness and the ability to do greater things in life. Most of these are unobtainable and guess what? They do not make you happy. It is the same factor the Bible was compiled for. A book to influence the masses to follow certain rules and give humans a conscience. It is not a bad book, as I will always say, it is a good book and I enjoy it daily. Yet, God is much bigger than the Bible.

Our relationship goals and the idea of how love and intimacy occur are dictated by literary works, television, movies, and social media. This is the same for career paths, lifestyle choices, and beliefs, all the way to the way you look.

A good example is cell phones. You get the newest and greatest model and the next year another comes out. Your cell phone is not obsolete, but the hype, advertisements, and the everlasting urge to have the latest and greatest push that yearning for more. That thought that you HAVE to have it.

At the end of the day, a functioning smartphone will suffice. Same with a vehicle, home, clothes, and food. We have been programmed and engrained with this pillar of ideology that we have to have the luxury and creature comforts to be happy and live a good life.

Well, we have been fooled. Grossly fooled.

How do we stop this? Do you hate inflation? What do you think a big factor, not the only one, of inflation, is? Our necessity to not cherish anything, not buy quality, and just keep replacing and upgrading. Everything we possess!!!

Look at the housing market. Does a couple with a child need a 2500-square-foot home? When just 50 years ago, the average house size was half that size and housed a family of 5. Everything we do now is overkill. Waste. Pointless. Some will say we spend more time in our homes now and it is necessary. Is it? I work from home so, yes, I need an extra room for an office. So, you can think about scenarios like that, but you have to consider what makes it into our subconscious and programs us to think we need a new vehicle every few years.

There was a time when people actually paid for their cars, not financed them. If they did finance them, they paid them off and handed them down to their kids or drove them for decades.

Our appreciation for what we were gifted is non-existent in the United States of America. When I say gifted, I mean in life in general as the gift. As this country was definitely not gifted. It was taken by force and many died and were murdered to possess it.

Think about the ownership of land. How intriguing it is when you really think about it. If Earth was to “purge” in some form in key areas where pollution, overpopulation, or another ice age or whatnot came about, who owns that land? How many times has this land been owned and relinquished control as Mother Earth decided the abuse was a bit much?

When you wake up tomorrow, you should look around and think about everything on a different level.

Instead of consuming/taking, try giving.

Quit worrying about who likes your posts or follows you, try doing something worthwhile instead of empty energy.

Perform a random act of kindness. Do not tell anyone about it.

Look at eating more vegetables, they are actually cheaper than processed foods.

Quit worrying about everything, and let stressors go.

Close your eyes, silence your mind and ask for what you need. Not what you want. Learn what a want is and what a need is.

Learn to love yourself and love others. Unconditionally and not on a transactional level.

Change your life and you will change others.

Trust me. 😉

dK