how is g*ogle, i*stagram, tw*tter, f*cebook, sn*pchat and all of your favorite or most used apps free? how do they cost you no money while making so much money? all of their CEO’s and all of their workers in the famous Silicon Valley are filthy rich. ask anyone about the rent and price of living in the Bay area, they’ll point right at “well silicon valley is here.” but majority of their products are free.
if you’re not sold a product from a company that’s making money, you’re being sold AS the product.
these companies are selling your information and making billions answers the first few questions. is it a surprise that all of the most used apps, you’re a USER? you give IT something. the app doesn’t give you something back.
i*stagram, f*cebook, sn*pchat, tw*tter… you give the app your name, pictures, locations, hometown, birthday, familial information (“i’m here with my family. i’m here with my girlfriend, etc”), updates to your life, mood, energy, pay grade, political affiliations, diet, plans for the new year, sex life, favorite musician.
check g*ogle. type in something like is it true or why does… and let it auto populate. it’ll cater to you. it knows what you’re likely to say or what you might say based on your data YOU GIVE TO IT.
we literally give it everything and then it suggests people we might know. it suggests foods and books and vacation spots that we like.
next time you get on a site, it might have a popup that says something about cookies. not Mrs. Fields Bakers Dozen. but look at that longer next time. it’ll say something about selling your information/data. you can opt out. if you cannot, DON’T use it. what you came to look for might be on that page but stand up and don’t be sold. find another page.
this was the talk of the town during the last election. these great honest politicians used your info from f*cebook and catered their ads and targeted YOU and millions of others.
people always say “they wanna put a chip in us.” they already did. we sold them us years ago and we’re content. we take the chip to the bathroom. to take out the garbage. to the commit certain acts.
we “ALEXA, play this song. ALEXA, set appointment with Malik at six p.m.”
we “siri, what’s the weather like?” siri can answer that when the location is on. so your location is on. “siri, how much is a bed on amazon?”
but when a company gives to you, they might be a subscription based application. they give you a service other than you giving them all of your all of your info.
i use Tidal as my music platform. i pay monthly, it gives me music, live concerts, pre-sales to concerts, exclusive drops, etc.
new world order is happening now. brainwashing and conditioning and allowing the government or private sectors and companies set up shot in our business and house is happening. rent free. these giant tech companies were just at Congress last month testifying about how big and powerful they have gotten. they’re defending their position of course. but you’ve never asked how g*ogle got SO POWERFUL? or f*cebook and tw*tter and am*zon?
when asked does am*zon sell customers data to benefit themselves, your favorite centi-billionaire responded, “i can’t answer that question yes or no. we have a policy against using seller-specific data to aid our private label business, but i can’t guarantee you that that policy has never been violated.”
they sell all of the information we give them. data brokers are what they’re called. nothing new. they know if you prefer red over blue. if you like nike over adidas.
how does Mark Zuckerberg have so much money from a platform that’s free? he has a net worth of around ninety-nine billion dollars. that’s $99,000,000,000. in two minutes, one hundred twenty seconds, he makes more than what the average worker makes in a year (which is around forty-eight thousand dollars). but hard work, right? i’m sure you know hundreds of people right now who works endlessly and makes nowhere near one million dollars a year, but we continue to buy into this predatory belief that holds US back and targets the masses for the sake of ONE DAY HOPING to be at that table. for what? the amerikkkan dream. exploit. capitalism.
f*cebook now owns i*stagram, g*phy, whats*pp, and m*pillary. all apps based on sharing YOUR information for nothing in return besides more information. information sharing applications.
these apps check how often you’re using these apps, that’s no shocker. but they literally track what you type, delete, look at, click on. these apps track how many seconds or minutes you look at a picture or post. they sell that to third parties which in turn sells that to other companies that have those very items or pictures OR that third party will show you more of those same pictures and posts. conditioning. “how did they know i was looking at new bed frames? every time i go on social media, it suggests them? wow. must mean i really need it then.” then you go buy it. why doesn’t it continue to show AFTER you buy it?
but but but… let the big bad wolf China or Korea or Cuba do it, they’re COMMUNISTS. their government is EVIL. their people want all control.
with requests, we can’t choose only the specific parts for the people we like and vouch for. life doesn’t work like that. we always say “i want this” only thinking about yourself with absolutely NO foresight on people who can abuse that very law/feature. everybody said they wanted more surveillance and gave the government the allowance to search phones and have cameras everywhere after the scary Arabs attacked this country (that’s a whooooole nother story). but people acted on fright and next thing you know, THEIR privacy was infringed on. too late because that’s what they voted for. Patriot Act. check it out.
“Title II authorizes roving surveillance — that is, a court order allowing surveillance on a particular person allows officers to use any means available to intercept that person’s communications, regardless of where the person goes.” “an internet service provider can be ordered to provide information on IP addresses, login times and sites visited. Title II also allows delayed notification of search warrants, meaning a suspect’s house could be searched while the suspect isn’t present, and the suspect would not be notified of the search until after it was carried out.” it expands the power of the execute branch and somewhat weakens the checks and balance. it imposes on many different amendments. most notably, the fif and sixth.
be infuriated that the government can do it, and be even more that tech companies do it every second to condition and manipulate you and the more vulnerable and gullible people around you.
being liked.
how do you see yourself? do you like what you see?
when f*cebook added the “like” button, everyone wanted to see how many likes they got and spread the love and admiration.
then it turned obsessive.
people started posting pictures and deleting them right after if it didn’t get the amount of likes they thought they were worthy of. pathetic right? but some reading this did this every time. or still do it. sometimes you need someone to tell it like it is.
i will.
that’s pathetic to delete YOUR post that YOU thought was dope and interesting and good looking. YOU decided it was good enough to post but because someone didn’t like it or not the right person liked it or not the amount of people liked it, it’s bad? who do you live for? who do you do it for?
you’re beautiful. i promise. you’re worthy. you’re mad smart. your art is dope. your creations are clean. you might not be my type or art or music might not be my cup of tea, but who cares. who am i. i’m a nobody to you. get them tweets off. get them pictures off. sell your art. keep those posts up. wear that outfit despite the reaction. wear that perfume and lipstick. i’ve never went viral for a tweet or post and Lord knows i have fire. the most RTs i have is like twenty. that doesn’t stop me from deleting it or complaining internally or to the social media. who cares.
some people have burner accounts to see if a picture is going to pop off… then post it to their main account.
nearly every human adult say they don’t care if others don’t like them… then i find this stuff out. that’s one of the biggest lies ever told. we’re social beings. we want to be loved and liked to a degree. if it’s by family, peers, managers, YOU decide that. but let’s not lie to keep up with this image of being impenetrable.
ima bring up real life examples. feel free to be offended or not. that’s on you.
in my experience, women cannot handle rejection in the dating/social sphere. social media included and it’s virtual. goodness. men have to do the approaching and conversation starting. men get rejected numerous times a night and we have to brush it off like it didn’t happen so the next woman doesn’t smell insecurity or desperation. we approach women who are good looking. and there are some dudes who approach women who doesn’t meet their standards of attraction but just need to have certain wants met.
women approach dudes they are totally attracted to. they are banking on this extremely handsome or well dressed guy to feel them. if that guy responds the way women respond to men, their whole night is crushed. their self esteem vanished. let a guy laugh a woman off who thinks she is the flyest thing in the party, or raise eyebrows and do now famous gif (from a rap battle in 2010) the same way women do that to men and she will vow to never shoot her shot again.
why? people people want to be liked. the energy and work they put in and give out wants to be reciprocated. and that’s the problem. if you walked out the house looking good, that didn’t change because the person YOU think is fly didn’t agree. i know i know, if you put in work and time and your all into your looks or work or car or whatever, you would like it to be appreciated. gotcha. but you don’t get to decide what is dope to others.
beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? not everybody favorite color is your favorite color. are you going to get mad at that, too? not everyone sees the world how you do. that’s normal and healthy.
i’ve heard too many people talk about how “he left me on read and haven’t responded!” or “AYE!! SHE JUST OPENED MY DM.”
got news for you. most people keep their phone on them 24/7. if someone didn’t open your message, they DID see your name and text but just decided to stall and act like they were busy or they just don’t want to talk to you. but trust me, no matter how you slice it, they know you texted them, bruh. get a life, sis. we depend on other people responses to us way too much to call ourselves independent. you’re a co-dependent.
when people say they don’t care, it’s normally about a specific demographic and a few dozens of people online/social media. tops. but some truly don’t care. it’s a rarity.
what if not a single person liked your idea. what happens to the once confident person and previously good idea or plan? is it still? what if two people hated it but ninety-eight people clapped and gave you a standing ovation and said “i’ll pay for your services!!” what would that do to your mood and future actions? now what if you did the same speech or gave the same product and two people clapped and ninety-eight people just looked, arms folded. what if ninety-eight people booed you and said get off the stage or what kinda design is that? what would that do your confidence?
some would fold and scratch it. understandable. some would change their audience and cater to another demographic because they know their product is fire. it could be timing and the immaturity/knowledge level. telling a five year old a joke that is intended for a thirty-five year old won’t have the same reaction as telling that joke to a thirty-five year old. sometimes it’s the lane you’re in. know your lane.
not everyone will like you. get over it. that’s life.
or the person itself. not everyone likes YOU. if someone well-liked tweeted the same thing or marketed the same product and got a welcoming response, it’ll show.
ima writer. i’ve had pieces that took hours and weeks to write and no one read it. i’ve written pieces that took thirty minutes and just three hundred words used and hundreds read it. people rarely reposts my stuff. nobody ever posts it on their own. homies or friends. you reading this now won’t share my work. history shows. YOU’VE shown it time and time again. but you reading this is the spark the world needs. the world needs my work. i go into every piece knowing that. what happens when no one shares my work? welp, what’s done is done. if that fashion is fashionable to you, it’s fashionable. it doesn’t make it less or more if Beyoncé wears it or if only your cousin wears it. i know what i’m doing is not only valuable and necessary, but good. that’s if it has ten thousand views and reposts from strangers who found out about it from the homies or if it has two views and both came from my dad and mom.
addiction.
is your phone a tool or an addiction?
staring at your phone when it didn’t ring.
turning on the screen when you come back to it even when you didn’t text anyone.
checking your phone literally as soon as you wake up or taking it with you in the bathroom.
focusing on the “read” feature on your phone.
fretting over the “seen” feature in the DMs.
when someone is typing and you see the ellipses then you don’t get a notification for a few minutes you start bugging out.
“if it ain’t on social media, it didn’t happen” mentality.
checking the looks and views on i*stagram and sn*pchat every few minutes.
seeing how many retweets you get then thinking it’s a failure.
you’re hooked. you’re addicted to the drug like alcoholics and crackheads. admit it. that’s the first step. if your younger sister told you all of that, you’ll check her. if your homie told you that, you’ll tell him he’s buggin. it’s easy to point out blemishes on other people. sin always looks better on others.
but NObody wants to admit they have a problem with social media and their phone. people got extra long charger cords, sleep with it right next to their face, but nobody is addicted to it. bet.
if you see someone getting in a fight, jumped, or treated in an oppressive manner and the first thing you do is tap your pockets to check you’re phone, you’re an addict.
it’s like a movie with bad actors but decent writing. the plot is intriguing. these people are living on a planet trying to escape other countries ways. these people say “they’re trying to put chips in us. trying to track our every move. one second, ‘ALEXA, play the song i played last night’. *unlocking phone with facial recognition. ‘Siri, take me to Home Depot.’ yeah anyway, the government is tapping my phone. i didn’t ask for this. this ain’t Korea. this is the great *insert irony. say, amerikkka.*”
you have a watch to read your texts and social media apps on? addiction. again, i know, i know, you use it for counting steps and telling time. gotcha. what do you primarily use it for? only you can really answer that.
i ask again, is your phone a tool or an addiction?
i asked my folks (i can’t call yall followers) on i*stagram and this was the response.
i was thoroughly surprised by the response. seeing who said culprit and addiction, i wasn’t. some of the people who said A TOOL, i was a bit. how many people our generation truly uses a phone as a tool unless it’s a designated work phone… i mean, check your screen time and let me know how many minutes our hours was used for texting and calling vs social media. let me know how much time was spent on i*stagram. checking comments and going down rabbit holes.
i have i*stagram and tw*tter. ima be honest now. i don’t check a lot of yall stuff. i write, educate, push yours and my boundaries of thought and soak up game. so i don’t check your stories much or scroll down your timeline. in fact i just unfollowed eighty people last night and probably more tonight. i just cannot justify having four hundred plus people. nothing personal. of course i do scan stories and threads here and there but it’s at times i have nothing to do. i’m not saying simply getting on your phone is a weakness. these apps are very entertaining. twitter be having me rolling. but i’m in control. be in control.
addiction comes AFTER something is lacking. either attention, depression, creativity, sex, excitement… you tell me. well, you tell yourself. what is lacking that you must seek the phone to latch to?
how often do you check to see if your car is still outside? how often do you check to see if lawry’s seasoning salt in still in your cabinet? or the screwdriver is where you left it? or the vacuum is still in the closet? i’m curious. a tool is used when you need it. you know where it’s at, you know how to use it, but you don’t abuse it. a tool is something is necessary to accomplish a job or task. in fact, if you overuse the tool, it’ll degrade faster than normal. the average tool lasts for years. they are built to last. besides shoes used for running, tools will last a while.
an addiction is something that you run out of quickly so you must get your fix. something you’ll feel naked without. you’ll freak out if you left it in your room even when you’re going to the kitchen for some water. an addiction pulls you to it and you’ll do everything to get it, even when it doesn’t give you much in return. addiction burns a lot of your time even when you’re stationary. any mention of the drug makes you anxious.
someone tagging you in a post so you HAVE to open the phone. when you open the phone, you feel you might as well scroll down the timeline. and click the pictures then check the comments then go search it on another app to see more about it then go to another app with the same base of people to talk about it then people comment on your post then they do that same cycle. all on a “free” app? that doesn’t alarm you?
we depend on our phone. we’ve been living in the same city for decades and rely on maps on our phone. the same city our parents grew up in and can get to the same place without g*ogle maps or w*ze, we MUST.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
i care about the next generation but who is teaching them?? THIS GENERATION. we take our phones to concerts, to dinner, to turn ups and when the kids do it, we say “back in my day, we could just enjoy company without technology being involved.” stop lying. we document everything instead of enjoying everything then get mad when we find out there’s documentation on us.
this generation is a juxtaposition. we know when we didn’t have phones; we know going outside and riding bikes to the park with no technology; we know watching tv with out family all in one room; then the gradual progression/regression when we all got cell phones; when we all got cameras on the phones, when we all got ipods; when music players got integrated into the cell phones; when we all got myspace then f*cebook on computers; when we transitioned to tw*tter and y*utube on phones; seeing people fight on worldstar; growing into our bodies and looks and posting pictures for the world wide wed to grade us; having podcasts just to see what other people think; lost self esteem because other people grades on us/lifestyles hurt feelings; now.
the first step is to admit you have a problem. don’t feel all prideful now like “who does he think he is? i aint gotta problem and i’m not about to let him TELL me i do.” a lie to yourself is self harm. it’s self sabotaging. you can lie to this screen you’re reading this on, but don’t lie to yourself.
we have to have discipline, yall. it’s a horrible condition we’re in and i know how it’s going to go because every generation does it: we’re going to talk so poorly about the next generation being detached.
i challenge you reading this to put your phone down for six hours. leave it in your room. turn it off. if you don’t respond to a text, that person isn’t going to mistake you for being dead. and if your girl or dude thinks you’re cheating, you have another problem to attend to. but still do it. don’t have your phone by your side for six hours. check the screen time at 5 p.m. and check yourself after.
use your phone as a tool for the next week. then the week after.
use it for directions and information. but even that, challenge to get to know YOUR city. if it takes a few minutes longer to get there, who cares and who knows because you don’t have the ETA at the bottom of the screen.
to those “i get my news from tw*tter” folks, stop lying to yourself. you don’t USE it as news platform. you use it for your addiction and stumble across news here and there. more than ninety percent is for your fix, the rest is conveniently coming across some “news.” and that news doesn’t even stick. you’re gonna forget it by the time you put the phone down.
use non tracking and selling search engines. get a new email that doesn’t sell your information.
go into every situation with your satisfaction mattering. you have skill and beauty. regardless of what i say or that very attractive person you tryna see what’s up with or your parents. if you’re gay, be gay. you like some off the wall stuff, like it. do it. be comfortable with yourself. it’s freeing.
do not allow social media inadvertently bully you. you’ll have an opinion on something and social media will have you reconsider your whole idea of it. that’s can be cool if it’s actually grows you. but for the most part, it doesn’t. it just has a lot of people agreeing with it or the right people agreeing with it (if your favorite musician or athlete or social media says it, boom).
next time you go to the bathroom, shower, kitchen, dinner, DON’T TAKE YOUR PHONE.
love your looks. love your product. love your hair. love your work.
speak to yourself kindly. spend time with yourself. hype yourself up.
read this article on data brokers and see what you can do to stop it.
when you’re on social media, try use it for news. stop using the word try and just do. just do that thing or idea. starting today.
treat yourself and watch the social media dilemma on netflix.
be the change you want to see. be the change you demand of these politicians who won’t keep their end of the deal. depend on yourself to do the right thing.
capitalism is destroying the world.
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check us out at publicschoolkids.com
unamerican idol 
One of YOUR BEST! I love the truth will set you free, but first piss you off. Proud of You Son. Love the time you put in research
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