Documentary I am strongly recommending: The Social Dilemma
Last week on Netflix I watched this incredible documentary that changed my behavior immediately in regards to how I use and understand social media (YouTube, FaceBook, Instagram, Pinterest, SnapChat, Google, etc…). By understanding who controls these platforms, their monetization goals and the long term significance of these issues it makes me think twice before using these applications. Turning off my notifications from these apps and becoming more savvy with which search engines do not collect and keep my data are action steps I immediately implemented after watching. This one and half hour program is even more important if you have children and are concerned about the content they are consuming. This is a MUST watch if you want to understand why our country is so divided and what you can do about it to protect yourself.
Book I am hearing: What You Do Is Who You Are by Ben Horowitz
In the modern business world industry leaders are far more concerned about creating the right company culture than they ever have been before. This is due to a greater awareness of how culture impacts all the decisions an employee makes. If a company has a great culture than the beliefs and behaviors of the staff align with the long term vision of the company and encourage it’s success. If a companies culture is fractured, then many key decisions will be left up to each individuals interpretation and the results will be less desirable or catastrophic. For five very different stories of leaders who have created incredible cultures in difficult circumstances and how to apply them to your life, check out this book on Audible!
Quote I am pondering: “64% of the people who joined extremist groups on Facebook did so because the algorithms steered them there.” ~ Internal Facebook Report 2018
Please remember that every time you click on a picture, video, “like” something or spend more time looking at something while you are scrolling, that information is being collected and analyzed. The goal of social media platforms is to encourage you to spend more time on their app. This means that they will use that information to suggest more content that supports your previous behaviors. Ultimately, this impacts all of our query results, “recommended videos”, side-bar advertisements and so on. What we are exposed to online is NOT random. It is there for a monetary reason and unfortunately does not have to be ethical as there are very few policies in place to control these incredibly powerful companies. Just to make this point here is one more quote in regards to social media from the New York Times which says, “The number of countries with political disinformation campaigns on social media doubled in the last 2 years.” Please be aware of how you interact with these applications and make sure you are always collecting information from both sides of an issue before making up your own mind
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Have a kick ass week everyone!
In Health,
Dr. Devin Shea, DC
