Observe, Remember, Compare.
If I'm a secure person, my online persona is going to be pretty similar to the person that I am. If I'm insecure, my online persona is probably very different from who I am in real life.
It's funny: I spend time in the book criticizing social media, but I'm also aware that a lot of my success is because of social media. I can broadcast myself and my work to thousands of people that are following me or my friends. I do think that social media can be good for self-promotion.
We miss extra bits of knowledge that can add value to our lives. We sort of lack empathy because we're multitasking all the time.
If I post a selfie, and you like it, it's of little cost to you, but it feels great to me. That becomes addictive, and you see people's narcissism so quickly. I think that's a very dangerous thing for us all to be addicted to.
Each person can achieve balance by cutting a few things out and seeing how it goes. If you cut something out, and it goes well, and your life is better, you keep doing it.
Social media has a way of changing your mood. I can see a picture of my ex, and it ruins my day.
We do not see what is “real,” we see what we are.
But whenever one meets modern thinkers (as one often does) progressing towards a madhouse, one always finds, on inquiry, that they have just had a splendid escape from another madhouse. Thus, hundreds of people become Socialists, not because they have tried Socialism and found it nice, but because they have tried Individualism and found it nasty.
I don't believe people die from hard work. They die from stress and worry and fear - the negative emotions. Those are the killers, not hard work. The fact is, in our society today, most people don't understand what hard work is all about.
History is strewn with ideas that were intuitive and made sense at the time, but were also hopelessly wrong.