Thoughts bubbling up from watching a few Gary Vaynerchuk videos. I’m never going to find the specific ones at this point.
First, the phone in my pocket isn’t evil. It’s an empty vessel connecting me with something I want. So to say iPhone addiction or similar phrases is wrong, and it misleads. I’m not addicted to the phone. I’m addicted to the things I find there. The responsibility, the accountability is with me, not Apple.
Social media is the same. It’s not good or bad. It just is. Facebook isn’t evil. It’s my use of Facebook that is the important fact. After staying away for years (because I thought Facebook was evil) I have an account now, for one specific private group. That’s all I use it for, despite the enticements thrown at me. I took responsibility. The tool is fine.
As soon as a thing is tagged as bad in some way, maybe we give away agency, ownership of our own lives. The language we use to describe things matters.
Even accepting that Facebook people do bad things to others in their quest for profit, the correct first response is “All that may be true, but what am I going to do about my life?” And I can’t control Facebook, I am wasting my time if I whine about Congress not doing something about it, and I am arrogant if I mock “them” (whoever “they” are) because that’s implicit arrogance on my part.
The only productive thought is “Ok, maybe that’s true. Maybe Mark Zuckerberg is the spawn of Satan. What am I going to do right now, actions, to improve my life?”
That’s a Dan Sullivan philosophy too. He has no time for victims. Your parents were bad parents. You suffered a setback from random events, caused by whatever. Ok. What are you going to do now?
Never a victim. Always accountable.