Tobacco To Social Media To Self-Realization
When tobacco companies started selling cigarettes, they had a very clear goal. They wanted to hook users into this habit. Once hooked it is very difficult to go back. As more and more people enter this habit, their profits soar. Same goes for alcohol and other habit-forming drugs. They are dangerous.
That was the time when companies had to rely on atoms for getting users into a habit, and now companies are using bits to get users into habits and snatch their attention from them without them being aware that their attention is being sold to other businesses. What is Facebook selling. It is selling the users’ attention. The more time a person spends on FB, the better the earnings. Any social media platform for that matter. Social media companies are fighting nail and tooth for our attention. Some are winning big time at it, because people enjoy ignoring the difficult reality of life and enter a fantasy world where everyone is happy. Liking, sharing, subscribing are activities that have become just an extension of normal human behaviour. It feels like we evolved to be here.
I seriously hope that the next revolution that takes over the world is a spiritual revolution, where people find it’s cool to find the real meaning of life. Because anyone who has deeply thought about the meaning of life will surely understand the ephemeral nature of our life and realise that there’s no use fighting over trivial matters. They will surely realize that they cannot take anything along with them after their death. If we have ample beautiful thinkers like these, we can surely make this world a better place to live.
