Imagine you lived in a universe where whatever you give your attention to gets drawn to you. So, if you pay attention to cute dogs on the street, you’ll soon be followed by cute dogs all the time. And if you pay attention to the angry guy muttering to himself, soon there will be angry mutterers all around you. This is similar to what new age spiritualism calls the Law of Attraction (“you attract into your life what you focus on”).
This is not how the real universe works. But you know what actually does work this way? Social media. Let’s call it the law of Social Media Manifestation: you manifest what you pay attention to.
On Facebook, cute animals follow me around because I like cute animal photos. On Twitter, I don’t hear many angry guys muttering because I don’t click on the mutterings of angry guys. I do, however, hear many interesting ideas because I click on and like them.
If your social media is hell, don’t forget the law of Social Media Manifestation: you manifest what you pay attention to. If you want your social media to be full of interesting ideas and not brimming with angry guy mutterings, click on the former, not the latter.
If the real world worked this way, we might think it would be a paradise (all we have to do is focus on good things, and then good things will be all around us). But what social media teaches us is that if the real world worked this way, many of us would end up in a nightmare.
Fortunately, with social media, it’s a nightmare that’s pretty easy to wake up from. But it requires clicking and liking based on what your higher self wants you to see rather than what your lower self feels a compulsion to see.
This piece was first written on November 7, 2023, and first appeared on this site on November 29, 2023.
Great insight! And, unfortunately like many vices, easier said than done.