Two reasons: Those who stand to gain financially from the new trend, and; communication in the Internet Age: In the Television Age, the media often hyped news beyond the limits of truth to boost advertising dollars.
In the Internet Age, every content producer faces a dual dilemma; How do I get my name out there so I continue to remain relevant? and; What can I write about today?
Who on earth hasn’t heard about Branding Yourself, Self-Driving cars, Bitcoin, The Cloud, The Death of Cars and 20 years ago, Y2K? These topics take on a life of their own because they’re pushed by everyone who will gain financially by the trend and the blogger asking himself, ‘What do I write about today?’
Just today, I read from Wired that the The Death of Cars Was Greatly Exaggerated This topic is a blogger’s dream. The blogger can write about what our lives will be like in a world where cars have died and then write about how the Death of Cars Was Great Exaggerated.Can you think of a better way to maximize Blog Posts Per Topic?
Talk about it endlessly then talk about how it didn’t happen.
Oh, this may not be the last post on this topic, there’s always; ‘How Did We Get It All Wrong about the Death of Cars?’
Don’t get me wrong, not all of these topics are 100% hype.
The economic reasons for the Cloud will ensure it is with us for a long time. However, the victims of cybersecurity breaches can attest to the Cloud’s weaknesses.
At least bloggers are happy since this trend has spawned a new topic; Cybersecurity: Is Anything in the Cyber World Secure? ‘Who Will be the Next Victim?’
Branding Yourself Will Help Some People’s Careers. However, I believe the Admin Assistant and Loading Dock staff can safely ignore it.
Self-Driving Cars May Have Some Use In Our Future. Yet, every crash and fatality reduces their chance of success.
Bitcoin Seems to Be Popular in Some Circles. In spite of the fact that no government stands behind the crypto-currency. At least gold and silver, while volatile, have some intrinsic value.
While the Y2K Warnings Were As Far From the Truth As You Can Get, one could argue that the hysteria caused by these warnings may have moved some businesses to take action so it would not be an issue on 1/1/2000.
Why Are Your Hearing (Reading) This Post? James Altucher warned us, in his excellent book, I Was Blind But Now I See, how TV stretches the truth to maximize advertising revenues.
Ryan Holiday showed us in his revealing book, Trust Me, I’m Lying, how the Internet was a lot like TV.That is why he said; “The economics of the internet created a twisted set of incentives that make traffic more important—and more profitable—than the truth.”
My post was written to help readers understand the forces behind yesterday’s and today’s trends. Just as I’ve learned to be skeptical of many of the things I hear on TV and elsewhere, I’ve also learned how modern trends take on a life of their own. Thanks to those who stand to gain from the trend and those who are just happy to have something new to write about we’re bombarded with messages telling us how our world will change and what we need to do about it.
By developing a healthy skepticism of modern day trends, I can now sleep at night knowing, I wasn’t mistaken when I chose to forego that $1,000 deal from the Branding Master.
I don’t have to give up the keys to my Subaru because self-driving cars will take over or cars will simply die.
Even though we’re stuck with the Cloud, at least its problematic nature may speed the improvements that it so desperately needs.
I have no qualms about foregoing that Bitcoin investment at least for now.
Even though I was spooked by the Y2K hysteria, that hysteria may have gotten the attention that was needed so organizations could fix the underlying issues behind the concern.
If you take away anything from this post, it should be an understanding of the forces pushing these messages. When you are armed with that skepticism you’ll be less likely to be taken in and more likely to make wise decisions for you and your loved ones.
