Tag: #Facebook

Want to feel stupid? You could have been reading!

When your days are filled with the tops of teenagers heads, staring down into Snapchat, something inside you dies. While I hold fond memories of hiding books under my desk during my own high school classes, these kids will barely let go of their phones long enough to say a complete sentence.

But when I get home, I realize that I am just like them. After a long day, I just want to mindlessly thumb through pictures of all my friends and family who are out traveling, having kids, etc. It doesn’t make me feel very good but it seems like the only thing to do. Play some mobile games and melt into the mind-numbing boredom of corporate advertising. Or…

Enter: The Omni Life Calculator

The Omni Life Calculator is an epic site where you can calculate a ton of different variables in your life like comparing pizza prices, a weight loss calculator, and even how long it takes to boil the perfect egg. What impressed me the most was the site’s ability to redirect the wasted time spent on social media to determine how many books you could read in a year.

I thought this feature was definitely the most intriguing. After tallying up my score, I could have read 136 books a year had I simply redirected my time wasted on social media. However, social media isn’t only a waste of time.

Not-so-social Media

The Omni Life Calculators warns of addiction to social media on their site with several helpful links. They don’t include many studies but I’ve done some of the work for you below if you need any more reasons to re-purpose your wasted time.

Social media addiction or continuous usage can lead to…

A conclusive assessment of social media would result in far more cons than pros, with many signs of social media addiction resembling the same behaviors as those who suffer from substance abuse. *sigh*

But it’s not all doom and despair with this handy calculator. The site has several useful suggestions for cutting back social media time by deleting useless apps, uninstalling frequently used social media apps and only visiting through an open browser (the Facebook app alone uses an enormous amount of storage and I have since deleted it from my phone), disabling notifications (regaining control over when you visit these sites), and calling someone instead of texting them, therefore depriving your body of that brief, addicting dopamine rush.

If you choose to follow this zen path of self-reflection through abandoning social media, I would encourage you to use that empty space to install a reading app like Kindle on your device.

Reading and Relaxing and Rest for your Brain

The prospect of reading for many people is daunting. Others may find it rejuvenating and refreshing to choose whatever you want to read whenever. While the Omni Life Calculator doesn’t explicitly encourage reading to fill in the time from social media, there are several benefits to spending your time diving into an online book or a paperback you stuff into your bag during a commute.

These benefits include…

  • Larger vocabularies
  • Better writing skills
  • Deeper emotional experiences
  • Heightened empathy
  • Increased intelligence in whatever subject you’re reading
  • Making you sound more intelligent
  • Increased self-esteem
  • Boosts your creativity
  • And so much more!

If you need help finding a book that you’ll like, just search for ‘books about_______________’ and fill in the subject that interests you. Can’t afford some online newer books that interest you? Check out the library. Still want to try out online reading? With Kindle, simply type in ‘free kindle classics’ and you’re bound to come across a classic work that is free now because of the copyrights.

The overall quality of your life is affected by what you spend your time doing. Scrolling through hours of social media will only make you feel worse, I promise. Try to go a few days without it and you will definitely notice a difference. Life is much too short to waste your time on something that is as damaging as social media.

This is not a sponsored post.

Tech Meets MLM: A Relationship Made in Hell

So… there’s a person on Facebook. Or Instagram. Or a Snapchat. They’re typically in between jobs. Perhaps its a new mom who’s trying to work from home. Maybe it’s an unfortunate soul that you attended high school with who spends too much time online. Their posts look strikingly similar though. They say the same things while smiling into the camera: “join me, let me know if you would like to purchase, sign up for a free program, be a part of an exclusive group, LOSE WEIGHT!” I click through them without reading them anymore. Like old memes, I push them aside.

But after awhile, I realize that they’re everywhere. My inbox is jammed–overflowing!–with people trying to sell me makeup, hair products, services, homely crafts, joining a small business. What is going on?

MLM: Breakdown

For those who are unfamiliar with the term, multi-level marketing refers to the process of making money by selling through networking and word of mouth. According to the Federal Trade Commission:

” If the money you make is based on your sales to the public, it may be a legitimate multilevel marketing plan. If the money you make is based on the number of people you recruit and your sales to them, it’s probably not. It could be a pyramid scheme. Pyramid schemes are illegal, and the vast majority of participants lose money. “

Federal Trade Commission on Multilevel Marketing
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0065-multilevel-marketing

Basically, if a majority of the income generated from recruiting and creating a ‘downline’ or group under a seller or ‘consultant’ instead of sale of products, it may be a pyramid scheme. While a lot of the ads you encounter may not be pyramid schemes, you should always be weary when it comes to selling things for other people. Especially when the company promises to get you quick money with nothing but your cell phone or computer, utilizing the network marketing techniques of working from home.

The Basics of MLM: Need to Know

A typically cheerful person approaches you. Offer you some overpriced products. You politely decline. They offer to help you make money with you working under them on the line. Maybe you need a small sum to get started…? $99? $500? $5000?

Your gut should tell you to run. Save your money! But for others, the unique proposition looks more like an investment. So you fork out a few hundred…or thousand. Next thing you know, you’re thousands in debt, attending conferences, maybe even cruises. Your online presence has grown. Your bank account may have too. But there never seems to be enough time.

With your family, friends. They don’t understand the business. They distance themselves from you. Your selling crew becomes a surrogate family. Your starting to get into debt. Your scared to tell your significant other about the debt. Maybe the company tells you that you have to spend money to make money. Maybe it becomes too overwhelming. Everything sounded too good to be true.

Though this may not be every MLM seller, a disturbing VICE video exposed the inner workings of one reputed MLM online clothing seller LulaRoe. The company in question offers variations of leggings, dresses, and other items. But you can’t buy them just anywhere. You have to get them from a special LulaRoe consultant who paid $5000 to get that privilege.

Other companies like Younique, Herbalife, Amway, JamBerry (now closed), Scentsy, Nu Skin and numerous others use the same strategies of coordinating chains of sellers. The people at the top get richer. The people at the bottom are doing the work. It’s not a bad strategy. If you’re at the top.

A Hellish Marriage: Armies of Influencers

With the rise of social media, the MLM scheme empire has been pumped full of steroids. Live videos of women opening clams, unpacking jewelry or clothing, or simply posing with items has enflamed the industry with those at the top becoming billionaires in some cases. Those at the bottom can feel manipulated and even exploited by their higher ups. Pressures to gain more followers, consultants, or products can harm those who have invested money (sometimes life savings) and their precious time chasing down friends to sell them beauty supplements.

Why Should I Care?

Odds are that you have encountered or will encounter someone trying to tangle you into something. With the rise of social media, people in MLMs have easy access to hundreds if not thousands of online profiles and emails in order to gain followers or those who need extra cash.

College students are especially vulnerable to the siren’s song of easy money and are willing to make small investments through purchasing a beginners kit. Instagram accounts portraying filthy rich millennials pouring champagne over sports cars while vaguely mentioning a product or company can entice even the most skeptical millennial.

The disastrous Fyre festival was one such event where Instagram influencers used their images and large amounts of followers to get participants to buy tickets to a music festival that would turn out to be giant scheme. Those who attended described hellish Mad Max style survival instead of a music festival of epic proportions. The musicians that were promised never arrived. Instead of models, there were ravenous stray dogs. And the promised luxury tents were actually flimsy emergency shelters. Though it sounds like a good time to me (practice for Survivor, anyone?), those who paid $5,000 to $250,000 weren’t so pleased.

So what does an MLM have in common with the Fyre festival? Both originated through social media and heavily followed influencers. Anyone who tries to sell you something that is too good to be true should be treated with extreme caution. Don’t be like the attendees of the Fyre festival.

If someone promises that you can pay off student debt, work your own hours, become a better you, spend more time with your family, or gain more followers, be aware that these are common manipulation tactics to entice you into purchasing beginner kits or becoming a part of someone’s “downline“. MLMs and other online scams can destroy credit, relationships, and even lives. Keep an eye out for people who rarely want to talk to you unless they’re trying to get you to purchase something. Beware even of computer ads that push the stay-at-home agenda of running your own business while working for a company. No matter what you’re told, it’s NOT your business. And maybe you will avoid becoming a cog in the machine of the 9-to-5 that you sought to escape.

NOTE: Looking up MLM related content will bring up MLM ads. Look at the formats and keep in mind that they want you to click on them if you’re interested. Be aware of your online surroundings, friends!