A Meditation On Why the Internet Is Horrible Place for People Who Want to Create Positivity
A Meditation On Why the Internet Is Horrible Place for People Who Want to Create Positivity
Entrepreneur Office Hours - Issue #251
One hour ago (as of the moment I’m starting to write this), I posted a video on Instagram that I knew was a wonderfully meaningful message of love and family that was going to go viral within minutes. But I also knew a small but very vocal minority of people were going to — for lack of a better phrase — absolutely lose their shit over it.
And, by the way, I was right. It already have over 40,000 views… and that’s just the first hour. I suspect it’ll have been viewed millions of times once it peaks.
The video is a stitched together series of clips where I ask my students the last time they called their parents. You can watch it here if you’d like.
The reason I’m writing about it so soon after posting is because I wanted to share a sort of explanation of my “in the moment” logic. I guess, for the sake of posterity, I felt a need to record my thoughts… especially if the pending controversy gets me in trouble.
In case you don’t already see the issue, some people are going to scream that not everyone has good relationships with their parents. Worse yet, some people lose their parents at a young age. So even though those people without good relationships with their parents represent a minority, and even though the majority of that minority surely appreciates the positive sentiment behind having a good relationship with your parents and calling them often while at college, some people are going to attack me (and, indeed, already have) for being an insensitive, privileged, horrible human being. For what it’s worth, I suspect most of the attacking will come from people who actually have good relationships with their parents but are trying to protect others. And, by the way, I appreciate that instinct to protect. I think it comes from a fundamentally good place. However, it has a very problematic impact I don’t think these people consider.
To understand what I mean, consider that I almost didn’t post the video precisely because I know the small amount of vitriol it would churn up against me. I spent an entire day debating whether or not to post it. Heck, I spent the past week debating whether or not to even create it. After all, for those of you who’ve been following me for a while, I try hard not to offend people because that’s not the kind of content I want to create. I believe this world needs more positivity — especially on social media — and I pride myself on creating content that’s focused on generating positivity, encouragement, and love.
At the risk of coming off as a bit too “full of myself,” I dare say, this is a good approach to social media. I’d even go so far as to suggest we’d all like to see more of this in the world because the Internet feels oversaturated with hate and rage.
But the challenge with trying to create positive, uplifting content is that, with 8 billion people in the world, no matter how well-intentioned content is, there’s no such thing as a “universal good.” For example, even if I posted nothing but pictures of adorable puppies, some people would take offense and accuse me of supporting the abuse of animals.
So what are people who want to create positive and uplifting content on social media supposed to do? If we know we can’t possibly post content without angering some people, do we just not post?
And I guarantee, this is exactly what happens. Good people who care deeply about harming others are afraid to post on social media because they know, no matter what they post, they will inevitably end up offending some group of people.
Surely this isn’t a good outcome. If the people who care about offending others are afraid to post, suddenly, the only people left creating content on the world’s most popular and influential platforms are the people who simply don’t care if they offend others. As a result, the platforms get filled with people who will intentionally create divisiveness, hatred, and anger simply because it gets them more views and followers.
Is that what we want? Do we really want a world where the biggest microphones are held by people who simply don’t care if their words and actions offend people?
After asking myself this question, and after debating it for a long time (much, much, much longer than the post I’ve shared above), I decided my video is fundamentally a message of good in the world. It encourages family — whatever that may look like for an individual person. And while it’s wildly unfortunate that some people have strained relationships with their relatives (or no living relatives at all), I hope we can all recognize and appreciate the value of staying connected with the people we care about and the families we create for ourselves — especially when we’re forced to be apart from them.
So that’s my logic behind a post that, by the time you read this, will have incited all sorts of love and anger from hundreds of thousands of people. Heck, it might have elicited one of those emotions from you. Or you simply might not care. Regardless, I appreciate you giving me an opportunity to share my thoughts.
Whatever your relationship with your family, I hope you have love and happiness in your life, and I hope we can all agree that the world is a better place when social media is filled with users who encourage family, community, and understanding rather than anger, hate, and divisiveness.
-Aaron
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Office Hours Q&A
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QUESTION:
Aaron,
Congrats on Issue 250! I’ve only been reading for a couple months, but loving what you do so far.
Here’s a question for you. As a first-time founder, I’m struggling with when to say 'no' to new opportunities. It feels like I should take every chance that comes my way, but I’m starting to worry it’s stretching our team too thin.
How do you decide which opportunities to pursue and which to pass on?"
Thanks, Tyler
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Great question – and, yeah, it's one that pretty much every founder struggles with. When you’re just starting out, every opportunity feels like it has the potential to be the big break you need, and it creates a temptation to say "yes" to everything. But being stretched too thin, especially as a small team, can kill momentum faster than anything else.
The way I think about it is this: every time you say "yes" to something, you’re also saying "no" to something else. Ultimately, time and resources are limited, so saying yes to every opportunity might mean you're saying no to things that are more critical for your business’s immediate success. In other words, what we’re really talking about here is prioritizing.
To figure out which opportunities deserve a "yes," start by aligning them with your current goals. Does this opportunity directly support what you’re trying to achieve in the next three to six months? If not, it’s probably not worth your time right now. Be ruthless about this, because you can easily get sidetracked by things that seem exciting but don’t actually move the needle.
Another thing that’s worked for me is to look at the opportunity’s ROI in terms of time, not just money. Ask yourself, “If we spend time on this, will the outcome be worth it, and can we afford the distraction?” Some opportunities may be good for the future, but if they’re a distraction from your core work, you should probably pass.
Also remember that you’re not saying "no" forever. You’re just saying "not right now." When your team has more bandwidth and your product is in a more stable place, you can absolutely revisit some of those opportunities you’ve previously passed on.
Bottom line: Stay laser-focused on your primary goals, and be comfortable with the idea that saying "no" can sometimes be the best decision for your startup’s growth.
Got startup questions of your own? Reply to this email with whatever you want to know, and I’ll do my best to answer!
