Did you know that social media rewards online negativity? The more moral outrage and negativity a post generates, the more likes and shares it gets. Click here.
This means that over time people have to get more emotional and outrageous in what they say. I have noticed this myself. Let’s take yesterday for example. I wrote three posts. The first was a very detailed post about how to Speed up WordPress sites which I imagine the LinkedIn audience is using. It had 120 views as of this moment. The second was an apology for a plugin problem that I had, which had twice as many views and a more salacious title, and the third talked about red flags which are negative and deal with people’s fear. It has over 500 views at the moment.
Now I’m not a genius, but if I want to become popular or well-known I will write negative and fearful articles which are popular. This is a common tactic. Fear and sex sell. However I do not make decisions based on popularity, but on what I think can be the most educational content.
It is not fear or sex that keeps us safe and comfortable, but knowledge. Everything you don’t know is hurting you. Your ignorance hurts you each day by believing things that aren’t true, by doing things that don’t help you, and by wasting time you will never get back. Do you help yourself more by only reading things that are emotionally interesting or fun, or by getting questions to answers that you should have learned a long time ago?
You have to actively choose to be ignorant of the internet. When facts are ready and you don’t learn them, don’t blame anyone but yourself. I understand in the past when people lived in small towns and they didn’t have good access to information. That used to be me. It isn’t me anymore. Now I live in NYC and I have access to any information I want and I use it. Believe it or not, facts and information help you, and if they are sometimes uncomfortable to learn perhaps it is because those well-meaning people who loved us should have learned some more facts.