How much fluff is in our society?
As I’m finishing up the book “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg and getting starting on “Trust me, I’m lying” by Ryan Holiday, I can’t help but ask the question: just how much fluff is in our society?
In particular, the story of how Febreeze was invented inside P&G really caught my attention. I didn’t know that the first iterations of the product were total flops not because it didn’t do the job of absorbing odors, but because it didn’t contain the perfume inside to reinforce the user’s habit loop. As soon as P&G added a small amount of perfume along with a different marketing strategy, Febreeze started to fly off the shelves. The company has turned something useful but undesirable into a successful product that is part of users’ weekly habit thanks to the instant gratification of the perfume component.
One can only imagine all the useful but unsexy things that already exists in our society, but never became popular because they don’t tie in naturally into consumers’ daily habit and don’t have instant gratification components to them.
I think the general public’s perception on books is a good indicator of how misguided our society is. The education system around the world has taught everyone that books are unsexy and boring. Last year when I graduated, I didn’t have a deadline to do anything. As a result, I didn’t want to learn anything new. But it wasn’t always like this. I grew up in a family that emphasized education. My mom was a Chinese teacher at a university and later became an editor at the PRC People’s Political Consultative Conference. Aside from that, my bedroom actually had a bookshelf that was filled with books I read that I can still remember to this day.
For a regular person, a book doesn’t give the same level of dopamine hit that a can of Febreeze can provide, yet, time and time again books are proven to be one of the best indicators of success. The average fortune 500 CEO reads something like 60 books a year [1], but 60% of average Americans only get through the first chapter!
I started reading a chapter a day since 2 weeks ago, and I’m starting to notice some good effects. In the first few days, it was hard to get started because I was impatient, thinking that the book was pedantic. After 30 minutes into reading the chapter, however, I was always surprised by what I was learning. Better yet, my thoughts became clearer throughout the day, I found myself in a better mood, and I was making better and faster decisions. I couldn’t have gotten any of those benefits by watching Netflix. Ironically, I only started to consciously allocate time to read after watching a viral youtube video. It was one of the few useful youtube videos I’ve watched.
How could we educate the society to identify things for their true value?
Everyday the average American is bombarded with advertisements what reinforces mindless consumerism. It gradually uneducates the public on what is actually important to them. Marketers would try everything in their playbooks to get people to spend money on things they don’t need [2]. Humans have way too many primitive automatic response systems that are not fit for the modern society, most notably our susceptibility to sugar, sex, and greed. Without a powerful tool, the average person is utterly helpless in confronting the incredible lure that advertisers constantly inject into the system.
How to unhook everyone from instant gratification and help people to reap the rewards of long-term benefit?
According to Charles Duhigg, the key is to establish a great habit. Once a person establishes a so called “Keystone habit” such as reading, many other habits will fall into place. Like Sir Francis Bacon once said, “Knowledge is Power”.
I also like the fact that some companies are taking advantage of people’s innate desires, and provide products that are genuinely beneficial for the general public. For example, education non-profit Khan Academy has put in significant effort into developing a gamification system for their online learning website. Every time a student finishes a video, points are rewarded and badges are given. For the first time in history, learning is not only rewarded for the long-term, but also instantly gratifying. This is a great way to advance our society to the next level.
One of the great motivators for people is the emotion of awe [3]. It gives people a stronger reason to focus on what matters to them, and see through the short term inconsequential distractions. As more people look at the bigger picture, they will start to care about themselves in the long term, they will care about their family in the coming years, and they will care about the society that they are living in for the coming decades.
Today, there are so much efforts and resources wasted on things that adds to the fluffiness, which is not helping anyone in the long term. It is up to the government and individuals to improve this by chasing the right dreams and doing the right things.
Links
2) I wouldn’t be surprised if the recent McDonald’s fake billboard viral video was designed and staged by a social marketing agency. Remember Jimmy Kimmel’s fake video of the girl caught on fire? That got millions of views. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/10/jimmy-kimmel-admits-twerking-fail-girl-video-was-totally-fake_n_3897484.html
3) https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/01/awesomeness-is-everything/508775/
