They are after pleasing an algorithm to fuel their own egos.
“Today’s fitness influencers are ‘studying’ short form content on TikTok & believe they are ‘cutting edge’.
I forewent hanging out with friends, to study shoddily translated Russian training manuals because I was so obsessed with learning.
There are levels to this game.”
-Ray Zingler on X
Fundamentally, I am not a social media fan.
I know this may sound odd, coming from a guy who has well over 7,000 pieces of content on this platform alone, which is an average of 2 posts per day, every single day, for the last 10 years without even considering the idea of missing a single day.
I use social media far differently than your average influencer looking to “make it big”.
I use social media as a tool.
A platform to cut through the abundance of bullshit that is littered all over your feed that you scroll through.
Is cutting through bullshit with real, quality, tangible information going to gain me the biggest following on a platform that rewards theatrics and shiny red balls of bullshit?
Of course not. But I know this and will continue to provide raw, real, quality information at the expense of my “following potential”.
The problem with social media is that most have no BS meter. Grown adults with fully developed frontal lobes don’t have the knowledge or capacity to weed out the bullshit, especially in the realm of health and fitness.
Do you think a testosterone infused 16-year old looking for information on tiktok is going to have the capacity to look past the garbage and seek out quality?
What about the 22-year-old influencer with a broccoli head haircut.
Is he studying the science? Applying the fundamentals? Or is he paying attentional to viral trends, trying to please the algorithm to fuel his ego?
Obviously, the ladder, right?
Before social media, you had to put time in. You actually had to study and learn.
You still do if you want to become a Pro, but the point of this post is that you don’t have to be a Pro if the consumer isn’t willing to use critical thinking.
I remember happily choosing to not hang out with my friends so I could scour scientific Russian training journals.
I remember reading every bit of information I could into the wee hours of the night, for years, trying to learn this stuff.
And then I’d practice, apply, create a philosophy, evolve and refine it.
This next generation isn’t doing that and that is why our people will continue to be misguided.
