Most of us live mundanely. We go through routines. We repeat behaviors. Sometimes we get out of our ruts and travel and take on some new activity. But, if there’s someone watching from afar or capturing us on video, one could argue we live a boring life.
I’m not saying that’s bad or wrong. Just the way it often is.
The people who run social media sites get this. Because they mine our boringness, knowing we want to shake things up or get some novelty, so they send clips, images, messages that target our habits.
I’ll focus on Facebook, because they are the most egregious from what I can tell, but I’m sure this applies to Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, you name it. They track you. They follow what you access. Then they attack.
I stay away from clicking things on that don’t come from friends on Facebook. Sometimes though (in my boredom), I click on something that looks intriguing. Oooooooops!
For the next 27 days, probably longer, I start getting similar things sent to me. They have those 15-second videos that show people doing goofy things. I made the mistake of watching a few (one leads to another, which leads to another). WRONG.
Of course, more 15-second videos of people demonstrating idiotic behavior rained down on me. I blocked them. I hid them. Nothing seemed to help.
Facebook knows when you are bored, and they know how to feed off your boredom addiction. Their AI senses your doldrums, waiting, waiting to pounce and overwhelm you with useless images.
One of the ways you know you’re bored is when you begin watching knot-tying videos. These are clips demonstrating how to tie different knots – the figure eight, the clove hitch, the water knot, the fisherman’s knot. You know what I mean.
You have nothing else to do, and you see these hands meticulously wrapping the twine around and around, up and over, under, then cinched. Holy cow, maybe I can do that.
Then they have you. Facebook/Twitter/TikTok/Instagram captured you. And here it comes: more and more knot-tying 15 second videos coming your way, enough to saturate your senses for years and years.
What gets me is how quickly crap starts to come your way and accumulate on your feed. Similar stuff to what you just accessed can arrive on your screen within seconds. And, it doesn’t seem to stop. Keeps coming and coming.
My advice, of course, is never click on something unless you really care. If it’s a true hobby and something you obsess about, by all means go for it.
If not, let it go. Don’t let AI and the social media maggots suck you in. Once they get their hooks in you, you’ll be inundated.
I do my best to delete, block, or hide posts coming my way that I have no further interest in, but they seem to propagate like mushrooms in the forest after a spring rain -- keep popping up.
As an old school-type person, I probably fall into the category of people who don’t logically figure out better ways to eliminate unwanted electronic information coming my way. I’m getting better, still figuring it out, and once in awhile there’s that nirvana moment, where you go, “AHA, now I know how to stop you.” You feel successful when that happens. Maybe that’s the learning curve – learning how to cut the crap out and eliminate boredom.
I’m not saying that’s bad or wrong. Just the way it often is.
The people who run social media sites get this. Because they mine our boringness, knowing we want to shake things up or get some novelty, so they send clips, images, messages that target our habits.
I’ll focus on Facebook, because they are the most egregious from what I can tell, but I’m sure this applies to Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, you name it. They track you. They follow what you access. Then they attack.
I stay away from clicking things on that don’t come from friends on Facebook. Sometimes though (in my boredom), I click on something that looks intriguing. Oooooooops!
For the next 27 days, probably longer, I start getting similar things sent to me. They have those 15-second videos that show people doing goofy things. I made the mistake of watching a few (one leads to another, which leads to another). WRONG.
Of course, more 15-second videos of people demonstrating idiotic behavior rained down on me. I blocked them. I hid them. Nothing seemed to help.
Facebook knows when you are bored, and they know how to feed off your boredom addiction. Their AI senses your doldrums, waiting, waiting to pounce and overwhelm you with useless images.
One of the ways you know you’re bored is when you begin watching knot-tying videos. These are clips demonstrating how to tie different knots – the figure eight, the clove hitch, the water knot, the fisherman’s knot. You know what I mean.
You have nothing else to do, and you see these hands meticulously wrapping the twine around and around, up and over, under, then cinched. Holy cow, maybe I can do that.
Then they have you. Facebook/Twitter/TikTok/Instagram captured you. And here it comes: more and more knot-tying 15 second videos coming your way, enough to saturate your senses for years and years.
What gets me is how quickly crap starts to come your way and accumulate on your feed. Similar stuff to what you just accessed can arrive on your screen within seconds. And, it doesn’t seem to stop. Keeps coming and coming.
My advice, of course, is never click on something unless you really care. If it’s a true hobby and something you obsess about, by all means go for it.
If not, let it go. Don’t let AI and the social media maggots suck you in. Once they get their hooks in you, you’ll be inundated.
I do my best to delete, block, or hide posts coming my way that I have no further interest in, but they seem to propagate like mushrooms in the forest after a spring rain -- keep popping up.
As an old school-type person, I probably fall into the category of people who don’t logically figure out better ways to eliminate unwanted electronic information coming my way. I’m getting better, still figuring it out, and once in awhile there’s that nirvana moment, where you go, “AHA, now I know how to stop you.” You feel successful when that happens. Maybe that’s the learning curve – learning how to cut the crap out and eliminate boredom.
