Shock Doctrine + Big Brother = 2019 or Depression in the Times of Colic Social Media, #2
Many of us, among the billion on Fb, have been hacked and know our accounts may easily be manipulated. Still, we remain–for the sake of self-interest, in the name of staying “connected,” or a habit that has gotten hold of our better instinct.
Whatever reason you stay on, proceed with caution. Ads catered to your personality and searches and political manipulation to get your vote at elections are not the only ways your life will be observed by Big Brother or for the only reasons.
Ways to wean yourself:
First, assure strict privacy settings, avoidance of adding apps to your devices and limiting time on line (that is not wage earning related because in the end, most of the world population is struggling to keep it together.)
Give value to other activities, interests, and especially ways to stay connected with society. If the numbers game (thumbs up, hearts, shares, etc.) is where you have been getting your sense of popularity or self-worth and you daily invest energy in increasing the clicks you get for your posts over most other things you do or might do to feel ‘accomplished,’ each day–revisit your personal sense of life purpose.
The people in power have a global goal to destroy and what they will replace it with many of us don’t like to think about. If I seem vague or general here (and you are familiar with my writing and books) you may assume it is intentional.
I’m not giving advice here, only lending my own thoughts and practices. Don’t post in real time. The trend to post sexy or cute pictures of yourself may bring out your inner narcissist much more than develop real self esteem. In any case, think about who may be eyeballing you. (Imagining them peeking into your dressing room or bathroom when you post may help to relinquish the practice.)
Don’t post to sow division.
Don’t post to be the sentinel of NEW PC Thought.
Don’t post to find find fault with others that may be part of your world or one of your communities. If your aim is to create a “better, more democratic” or compassionate world, your “job” on line should not be to patrol others–not for the sake of popularity, not for some sense that you are the voice of new PC rules and regulations, and surely not because you think, like every upcoming generation feels–that the previous generation screwed up and yours is smarter, more righteous and has true integrity. Some upcoming generations were smarter. But sowing discord among your own is not smart. It is playing into the hands of the major world players whose agenda for a New World Order is underway. Divide and Conquer is not a new strategy for the powerful and it still works like a charm, especially among the ahistorical, insecure and vain.
Watch all your personal information. As tempting as it is to brag about your new outfit or your exciting travels ( even while you are aware that the majority of the population and nature on the planet are in danger of obliteration) think of the Big Brother who is gathering data on your every move to use on you. Yes, little ol’ you–who will vote for the candidate they choose for you, or buy stuff they tell you give you cache, such as beauty products that will ensure not just enhancement of attractiveness but make you look like others whom you are told are the gold standard–so now we all have the same exaggerated eyebrows, lips, and long hair–all purchased.
I hesitate to use the word fake bc Big Brother in true narcissist pathological form has turned the word on all we once counted on to have integrity. For instance, fake and therefore our enemies are journalists. Fake and therefore our enemies are brown and black people who may be perceived as “illegals” and “aliens,” who are accused to have come to steal the nation’s resources like parasites that leave nothing in their wake but the blood they’ve sucked from their victim.
I’m awake at 3 a.m. I’m not clinically depressed but I’ve been there. I remain the writer night owl. I’ve reached the age where my fears are much less for myself as they are for the generations to come, for the planet and its resources defenseless against the powerful and ignorant. Yet, I post the articulation of such fears on social media with caution.
My instagram account followers go down whenever I post a picture of nature and go up if I post a “sexy” picture. I stick to the pictures of nature. FB is a strange ethereal world that no matter how much we may tell ourselves we are in control, FB controls what we see, who we see and most especially sees us with an omnipresent, omnipotent intelligence.
People of my generation have mixed feelings and themselves are a mixed bag of information gatherers to survive as we survive into the 21 c. With each younger generation people live with social media as an integral part of life. But social media is not a public service provided by a band of guardian angels on a cloud (and not iCloud.)
I may sound more paranoid than an observant thinker who can make a rational argument. It isn’t for me to do it for anyone. (If I decide to articulate what I really think, I’ll put it in a book.) All I am putting out here as I gradually pull away from FB and other social media is ask those who read my posts to add to my list of 10 on the previous post.
11. Ask yourself: What activities (not social media) in my daily life do I engage in that give me a true sense of accomplishment, contentment, serve others I care about, and/or are good for my physical and mental health? Can I increase my time and energy or expand on them so as to also decrease my on-line, eyeball/thumb exercise, time? The ‘adrenalin’ I may drive up on games can be driven up doing physical activities. And dare I, the poet and story teller say it–even by reading books?