Raising the Great Inner Realm Shield to Enrich your Life - PT.II

Navigating through cognitive biases

Since I wrote the original article "Raising the Great Inner Realm Shield to Enrich your Life" - I have learned even more about how media corporations and social media companies are abusing our neurocognitive biases. The revelation of such exploitation is, in all honesty, rather remarkable. If you want to learn more about these biases, you can look around for resources documenting phenomena such as "confirmation bias," "Availability heuristics," and "Boomerang effect." It is highly interesting and I recommend learning more about it. By exploring and learning about these cognitive patterns, one can achieve a greater degree of clarity in daily interactions and decision-making abilities. The dynamics of human biases are not merely academic curiosities; they are pivotal in the broader schema of information control and social engineering.

Regarding social media, I can give you a great rule of thumb. Simply... Create more than you consume. On the other hand, if you notice that you are constantly consuming more content than you are creating, it can very quickly turn into a problem, and you might be willing to address that. What is the logic behind this? Well, when you devote your time to the act of creating and sharing, pictures, opinions, or pieces of art, for instance, this specific time remains unspent on activities such as scrolling aimlessly, comparing yourself with others, digesting upsetting news, and succumbing to the infinite vortex of trivial content. Granted, not all content falls under the banner of uselessness, but probably a vast majority does, especially short-form type of content, which simply can't go in-depth into anything.

Moreover, creating your own content also opens the gate to receiving feedback on what you are sharing, which can be great if you focus on "constructive" feedback. For example, if someone just says, "Hey, your art sucks," then maybe don't take this into consideration; delete and forget about it. The way we can approach receiving feedback on our content is a separate subject; for now, trust me and just focus on constructive feedback and forget the rest. Constructive comments will generally help you improve, but on the extremes, comments praising your content or despising it altogether, will often not help you, so disregard it.

Don't Run like a Headless Chicken

There is an interesting human bias called the "Illusion of explanatory depth." This cognitive bias leads individuals to believe they understand a complex topic or process in greater detail than they actually do. When asked to provide a detailed, step-by-step explanation, it becomes apparent that their understanding was superficial or simply wrong. As our world becomes increasingly complex, it currently is near impossible to have an in-depth understanding of all the things composing our daily life, like your household refrigerator, the labyrinth of pipes coursing through the confines of your home, or the intricate supply chains that shepherd myriad products into your hands. Can you really explain how those things work?

Don't worry, it is totally normal if you can't. As our world is becoming more complex, we have to consciously choose and rely on specialists and experts in any given field. It is the only reasonable way to go through our complicated times. We have to choose consciously and carefully; this uncertain atmosphere in which we live is also a fertile terrain for scammers of all sorts. Beware of that. In the unfortunate case of misplaced trust, there is always the option to reorient and adjust in choosing someone new. The mistake people make is to think they can independently and efficiently assess all the situations that arise without help, or they run from one opinion to another, from a news bite to what the neighbor is saying…, like headless chickens; as a result, they feel lost and powerless. This phenomenon is exacerbated by the context-collapsing way in which all the content is shared on the web, as explained in the original article.

Data has Failed Us

While data presents a practical edge for the gargantuan corporate entities that know how to harness its considerable potential, it leaves an entirely different narrative for the individual. The question arises, how did we find ourselves adrift in cyberspace? In the sea of content, where millions of blogs, news articles, and social media posts proliferate daily, one can easily find data that seems to corroborate literally anything, because the way to interpret data is a science in and of itself, maybe even an art, some would argue. For example, there are advanced studies in data analysis, statistical analysis, Gaussian distributions, and other stochastic modeling.

Entire books have been written on this specific subject. Therefore you see, it's of paramount importance to approach data with a discerning eye, as this can clearly be overwhelming. It is another reason why it is actually smart to lend our trust to a person carefully chosen, instead of trying to navigate every ocean of data ourselves. Trusting a capable individual can provide more clarity and afford us the gift of time, which can be judiciously reinvested into self-education, thus catalyzing a virtuous cycle of knowledge. This is the method I strongly recommend and arguably the only viable one.  

Live, Create, Learn, Adapt, Repeat

To write this article, I really tried to put myself in the shoes of the average individual navigating the chaotic digital landscape, not because I am so extraordinary, but because it appears that I have naturally escaped some of the attention-grabbing traps. For starters, since I moved out of my parents’ house I have never had a TV. I, indeed, never felt the need to have one. I do like quality cinema, so when I wanted to watch a movie or TV show, I went to the cinema or watched it on my computer.  I have never been interested in reality shows, it seems that I always preferred to craft my own reality. There is also the fact that, even before I knew about all of this, I had always been creating more than consuming, especially music and graphics. I was enjoying it tremendously, and soon, it started to produce financial returns, so... I just kept going.

It's important to acknowledge, however, that I am not entirely immune to the attention-grabbing stratagems pervasive in our digital age; that's why all the information and methods that I shared with you here are also part of my personal arsenal. We have to constantly adapt as the digital realm continues its fast and relentless evolutionary march, and that's why it is crucial always to keep learning to stay ahead of the attention curve and keep control over this invaluable asset. The cycle will have to continue manifesting, and hopefully to our advantage: we live, we create, we learn, we adapt, and repeat.

Thanks for your time, and if you haven't read it yet, I encourage you to read the original article that you can find on my website or on Medium (Raising the Great Inner Realm Shield to Enrich your Life).

I hope and have faith that those thoughts, highlights, and articles will help improve your life tremendously; we will rise together, to live this life without limits.

Disclaimer: The contents of this article and blog should not be considered medical advice. Please ask your practitioner prior to implementing any of the advice, techniques, or product into your treatment plan.