I started taking courses for an MSCS at Stanford. One of the recent courses required reading advanced sections of the Compiler Dragon book. I didn't find the reading itself too difficult. But when I began solving the problems, I noticed I was getting stuck, even on the basic ones. I went back to the book to reread the algorithms, but it didn't help. After a few hours of struggling, I realized I was reading the wrong algorithm. It wasn't supposed to work on certain cases, which were clearly mentioned. I skipped those parts because I was skimming the text instead of carefully reading it. This was a wake-up call. I wasn't like this in college. I used to be a thorough reader, reading between the lines. But now I don't have the patience to read anymore. Reading a book seems like a big challenge. Reading a news article, watching a full documentary, a movie, or listening to a progressive rock record—all seem challenging nowadays. I can't sit through a movie without checking Instagram. My attention span has deteriorated badly.
I know this is the story of many people. It seems like a compulsion to watch videos on YouTube while eating. In my office, some of my colleagues often watch TV series while coding. Their efficiency seems low. Most people can no longer stand long meetings and design review sessions. They often zone out, even when attending in person. Most people procrastinate. They are unable to challenge themselves to achieve more. All of this has mostly been brought about by the very idea of short videos.
We all know how terrible the idea of short videos is. TikTok started the trend, and the world followed. Once you open TikTok, you can spend hours without realizing how much time you've wasted. The short videos show the highs of life, overnight success stories, coming-of-age tourist destinations, new trends, new fashion, etc.—all of which are either highly exaggerated or completely fake. There are videos, then reactions to those videos, and then reactions to the reactions. Influencers keep promoting brands they would never use themselves. Money keeps pouring into their accounts, and that is all they seek.
Most of the content is fake. I can vouch for their fakeness because I've seen people enacting a script while filming a short video. Several companies are sponsoring their production now. It's a source of livelihood for young Americans—most of whom are unaware of the effect they are creating on society. They sell money. They sell fame. They sell success without effort. However fake they may be, they succeed in releasing high levels of dopamine in our brains. Once you've fed your brain a dose of dopamine, it always wants more. It's a drug, after all.
We can no longer focus our attention on things we want to do. Everyone wants easy answers to everything. College students can't take the effort to read books, research papers, or attend lectures. They want to watch sketchy videos that can help them pass their exams or finish their assignments. There is a massive amount of incorrect information all over the internet, and short videos likely account for 70% of it.
One of the most terrible outcomes of short-video culture has to be influencer marketing. An influencer's primary job is simple: create FOMO (fear of missing out) in the minds of their viewers. We begin to feel that we are missing out. Personally, I never felt that I would ever experience FOMO. But I did; I just realized it very late. I watched several Instagram reels on investment advice. Every now and then, Wall Street invents a new instrument that people can buy and lose their money on. First came stocks, then cryptos, then bonds, then REITs, and I believe Wall Street will continue inventing new ways of fooling taxpayers. They try every way to promote their instruments. Everyone knows how much of a scam hedge fund folks are. They have the money to buy every rating agency, Fed official, trading application, news channel, and investment bank. They run propaganda throughout the internet, several magnitudes larger than you can imagine. They feed the FOMO in the brains of individuals. And I was trapped in their web.
If everyone can multiply their money, would we no longer need to harvest our crops?
It's sad to see the internet used for spreading such propaganda. Indeed, everything is propaganda. The more people see it, the more they believe it. It's sad to see the world being converted from a productive, innovative market to a speculative, financially engineered market meant to feed the profits of a few rich individuals.
I work in advertising, and I know the age groups targeted by various products. Financial products like Robinhood, YieldStreet, and WeBull target 18- to 25-year-olds. They are the ones who have just started their careers, and the marketing teams know they would do anything to earn easy money without realizing the scam they are entering. Similarly, most dating and matrimonial sites target the 26–30 age group. Most baby care products target the 31–35 age group. Looking at the targeting, I can predict what's coming up in my life.
All this reminds me of three of my favorite films: The Truman Show (1998), The Matrix (1999), and Fight Club (1999). The world is a simulation, and we have merely become puppets in the hands of a few rich individuals. To save whatever hard-earned money I have left, gain back my attention span, experience some real adventures, meet real people, have realistic expectations, be productive, and create a real impact on the world, I left Instagram forever. I hope this motivates you to do so as well. Better late than never.
The best investment we can make today is in our knowledge. There is no limit on the return rate. There are no ordinary income or capital gains taxes on it. Consider two scenarios: one in which your financial investment grows by 15% every year and another in which your salary (and hence your worth) grows by 30% every year. The latter would outperform every financial investment you ever made. The worth of your skill will be so high that you won't even care about the penny-sized investments you made in the past. People will start pouring money in to buy a fraction of your time. The only catch with the latter is that it requires real hard work instead of constant procrastination. You need to chew glass to spit fire. It requires several years of effort—not just any effort but effort combined with sheer belief and faith in yourself. The results might not be visible for more than a decade. But if there is honesty in your work and kindness in your attitude, the fruits will be far beyond your imagination.
PS: Every influencer be like -
They should teach money in school instead of history and science.
The value of money is ultimately derived from the real-world contributions of professionals like scientists, engineers, doctors, and lawyers. If the focus shifts solely to financial speculation, the foundation of our economy erodes, and the currency itself becomes meaningless.
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