THE IMPACT OF ONLINE SPACES
“First time I was in You Tube was in 2009. I was getting serious about training and I didn’t have a coach. Nobody was there for me to see if I was doing well or not, so I went to the cybercafé. I needed to see what these guys were doing; the kind of training they were doing in the gym. They wanted to interview my coach to know what I did before the competitions and championships. By then I didn’t have a coach. Then they asked me, ‘who is your coach?’ and I told them… You Tube!”
Kenya was renowned for long distance running until Julius Yego decided to change the narrative and support Chimamanda Ngozi’s thesis on the dangers of a single story.
Yego was not born a javelin champion. You would even be mistaken to think that he was born in a family of javelin throwers. He was not. His country Kenya or his continent Africa are hardly mentioned anywhere close to matters Javelin. But now they are. Credits to him.
Julius Yego was born in Cheptonon location in Tinderet, Nandi county in Kenya. He became interested in the javelin throw as a youth. He watched videos of athletes such as Jan Zeleny and Andreas Thorkildsenon on You Tube to help him with his technique and to learn how to train at a gym. This earned him the nickname ‘Mr. You Tube.’
Not only is Yego the only javelin thrower from Kenya to make it to the Olympics but he is he is also the most successful javelin thrower in Africa.
He has won an Olympic Silver medal, the world championship title, and three African championships. His personal best of 92.72 meters broke the African record as well as the commonwealth games record.
THE CATCH
Julius Yego is a living example of the positive impacts online spaces can have in our lives. He has proved that we become the average of what we consume online.
WHY WE DON’T REALIZE THE EFFECTS OF OUR ONLINE SPACES
Very few people are able to link the things happening in their lives with the inputs from their online spaces. Like who would think that increased social media usage leads to increased depression and stress levels? The inputs from our online spaces are sometimes hard to link with the outputs we get in life.
Most of the things we do online unlike the things we do physically are private. You are the only person who knows the type of content you consume privately. You have even beaten Google’s history pages by hitting incognito mode every time you are about to consume something creepy.
WHY WE NEED TO THINK TWICE ABOUT OUR ONLINE SPACES
A recent study by Forbes magazine has shown that the average daily time spent online is now 6 hours and 59 minutes. This includes all forms of digital media like TV and mobile. The average person now spends a quarter of his waking time on his mobile phone.
Just look at your screen time analytics if you think Forbes studied countries whose citizens sit their asses down the whole day doing nothing.
INFORMATION OVERLOAD
We are living in an era of information overload. Too much information becomes confusing. It floods our minds with non-essentials. Information is like a drug. Information overload encourages overconsumption. With tools such as the endless scroll and the ability to refresh our news feeds as much as we can, we are losing control of what kind of content we consume.
The internet has become one of the determinants of how we live. Our online environment is now almost out competing the physical environment in determining the type of lives we lead.
Since we become what we consume it’s no better time to learn how to curate our feeds and how to make the best out of our online spaces.
I love the words of Clay Jonson, “In the world of the internet, we have almost universal access to everything that we need. And that means that we have to make empowered and informed decisions about what it is that we are consuming.”
As the saying goes, “you are what you eat”, “you become what you consume.”
In the words of David Brooks, “each person’s mind is defined by the upper limit – the best content that it habitually consumes and is capable of consuming. If you spend your time with a genius, your mind will expand and end up bigger and broader than if you spend your time with run-of the mill stuff.”
THE CHANGE OF THINGS
The world is changing at a neck-breaking speed that we are ending up playing catch-up all the time.
In the pre- internet era, if you wanted to be a fisherman and there were no fishermen in your area, you were doomed. There was no way you would become a fisherman. This has changed in the internet era. You have access to all the experts regardless of their geographical location
In the pre internet era, who you would become was limited to the people close to you. They were the only people you could learn from. If the youth of your community practiced hunting, you ended up becoming a hunter. You could not be different from the community around you.
This has changed in the internet era. You can find communities of likeminded people who are after the same things in life as you.
Personally, I have nurtured my writing skills as well as drawn the best of inspiration from the online communities of writers I have joined. We are enjoying the process as we hone each other’s craft. We interact, learn and inspire one another every waking day of our lives.
YOU BECOME WHO YOU SPEND YOUR TIME WITH.
Growing up in the village, my mother warned me of the company of notorious- ill-mannered friends. She would punish me whenever she found out that I was in such company. She had coined the quote ‘bad company corrupts good morals’ in my mind.
Parents need to worry less about the people their children interact with in their physical spaces and worry more about their online interactions. They are the ones that will make them or break them.
Nowadays, show me your friends and I will tell you who you are has very little to do with the friends in our physical spaces. It has more to do with the friends we have on our online spaces. We are spending the biggest portion of our time with our online friends.
People are no longer having face-to- face conversations. It’s all online. The saying, ‘sit with five entrepreneurs and you will be the sixth or sit with five idiots and you will be the sixth,’ has migrated online.
THE SECRET TO USING YOUR ONLINE SPACES MORE INTENTIONALLY
One person makes a living from making ropes while another person makes a dying by using the same rope to commit suicide. Similarly, there are people who have taken advantage of their online spaces and are now winning big in life while others are leading miserable lives.
Find and follow mentors online.
People who utilize their online spaces do not waste their time looking for old-school mentors. They follow the best people in their areas of interest and engage with them online.
Follow people who inspire you, challenge you or force you to update to the best version of yourself.
In the words of James Clear, “When you chose who to follow online, you are choosing your future thoughts.”
Show me your friends and I will tell you what kind of a person you are. The people in your online spaces will either make you or break you. They either energize you or drain away your energy.
Make use of the mute, unfollow, block and delete buttons.
As Jim Kwik famously tweets in the beginning of every month, “remember to cancel your subscription to other people’s drama and negativity.”
People often forget the essence of the mute, unfollow, block and delete buttons. Stay away from toxic people who drain away your energy.
Be intentional
Before engaging in anything online, ask yourself, ‘will this improve my life or that of another person?’ If its not a straight yes, leave it.
You become the average of what you consume in your online spaces. When you choose to spend your time and drain your energy in celebrity gossip, fake news and rumors your life becomes nothing positive. It is filled with chaos and drama.
Spend your online time with positive people demystifying important topics that you care about
With the burgeoning amount of time spent online and with the various technological inventions that we are unable to keep pace with, the amount of time spent online will only increase. By spending your time conversing with the right people and utilizing your energy demystifying topics that will make your life better, you will be leveraging the power of the internet.
Create or join an online community
Follow people with similar goals as you and create a community. Even though we cannot downplay the impact of mentors, the people who will change your life the most are your peers- the people who you grow up with. These are the people who are at the same level in life or career. This is where startup founders are meeting their co-founders. Its where meaningful connections are made. They later lead to great employement or business opportunities.
If the people you in your online spaces do not inspire or challenge you, you are following the wrong people.