What's up you guys? All right? So in this episode, I'm gonna give you a hot take on a I Don't know if this is an unpopular opinion that I have, but it's a it's an observation on something that I'm noticing social media kind of at large around click bait and the type of content that is trending right now, the type of content that's being produced and I am speaking specifically within the the trading, investing and you know, personal finance sort of genre. But I don't think this is really any different from what's happening at large when I think about like mainstream media one of the cannot see I can't tell you how many times I roll my eyes each day when I see a headline. you know across the the news thing on on my phone. the headlines are so salacious, they're so it's so.

there's such sensationalism. especially right now with you know what's going on with Trump and the election and but it's it's constant and I mean this has been going on for years. You know the BuzzFeed articles of like You the top seven reasons why you know big toes fall off like it's so dumb. It's the it's so stupid and yet people stupid articles and by clicking on them, what you're doing is you're telling the person who's making this content that you should keep making more of it and so I I feel like this has been media I Don't know that you call BuzzFeed mainstream media but you know we've seen it on on the 24-hour news cycle.

All of these just they're trying to get ratings and I almost feel like what they do is they think of this like really salacious headline and then they're like okay, let's now we gotta like fill that clickbaity headline with some content and you know, for lack of any real substance, how hard is it to make content about literally anything you want to your toe fell off. so you you interview one person and then you interview one Doctor Who's like yeah, big toes sometimes do fall off and then next thing you know you've got the dumbest peace in the history of the world and I feel like we are seeing that just constantly on all kinds of stupid things and you you know you're just getting and I know I probably sound like I'm 100 years old and I'm like when I was your age. but I mean it I can't tell you how many times I roll my eyes. So what I did is I took news apps off my phone I because I was just getting so annoyed with seeing this same garbage.

It's what it is is. it's um, it's divisive. It's uh, it's trying to. It's like if it's in flaming debate.

It's just so the quality is so bad. and and this is I guess when I'm talking about quality, there's not a lot of true substance. Now this that so I'm being General But that's on the kind of mainstream media at large. now on social media and then you know influencer culture that we're in right now.

What? Oh I See more and more and more of are these equally sort of just like I don't know what you call it. just like low road techniques of getting views, you know what and you see it. I see like Business Insider has these articles like all the time. Like one expert says the Market's gonna drop you know 30 this year and then like the very next headline is like one expert thinks the Market's gonna go up 50 when this one thing happens and it's just like it's it's you know it's almost like it's not it, they don't have.

They're not really communicating like that, they have a thesis of what the Market's going to do. They're just putting out content to get the clicks to get the views to get the advertising money. but there's not real substance and so in the finance space I See it all the time. I See these YouTube videos of you know the the catchy thumbnail of why the stock market's gonna drop 30 with like Flames the next depression on the way with.

You know, someone like eating a loaf of bread. It's like just the dumbest stuff. So someone yesterday what got me started on this was someone yesterday asked me he's like do you make money on YouTube and I was like well yeah sort of but not really. he's like what about like Mr Beast and I was like what about him he's like you know do you make money like Mr Beast I was like no um I don't have you know tens of millions, 100 million I don't know how many subscribers he has he's huge but because so he said well I wrote watched this video where he was talking about how he you know create how he's kind of created like figured out a little bit of a science of you but I guess I've seen two about this too.

um he he thinks he's kind of you know dialed in the algorithm of like the type of thumbnail to make and you know where in the video to do different things and how long a video should be and everything else you know to maximize View views and you know maximize revenue and and you know I mean he creates great content, interesting content. Obviously people really like it. I'm not saying anything bad about him but I was like that's not me I had a day trade video is never going to go viral you know I'm not gonna get a hundred million views you know a month or whatever it is and make you know millions of dollars a month on YouTube that's just not the way it is I was like you know what I end up doing is I'm creating this video of like how to day trade which would be like a video of like you know how to fix your dishwasher It's an informational piece of content. People obviously who are looking very specifically for it find it helpful, but it's within a niche I said.

But you know, since you mentioned it, there's kind of a problem that I face. Which is that I see these kind of up-and-comers who are maybe newer to social media who are trying to be that influencer and they're in kind of my space of day trading or active investing and they're starting to do these very salacious headlines. You know why the Market's going to drop 30? You know these stocks are going to go up 75. It's it's the type of stuff that's getting the clicks.

But now to me, it comes back to substance. What is the actual substance of these three minute long videos? They're getting the clicks, They're getting the views, They're getting the ad money. This is their actual substance and and what? You know. You know how qualified are these people to even I mean anyone can have an opinion, but how qualified is the opinion? If it's a financial opinion about what a stock they think is going to do, what are the qualifications feels like just to get the click, you know, and just to get someone to watch it for 30 seconds or whatever it is.

the qualifications are sort of. you know, go by the wayside. It's like all that's getting consumed. Here is The title, the thumbnail image and like the first you know paragraph of what they say and it is tough because they are.

They're definitely getting views and you could argue that they're probably taking views away from me if they're competing with a video on the same you know keyword or the same, you know, whatever. it might be the same search. I Don't really go for a lot of the type of searches that maybe an influencer would be trying to. you know, be on.

but but just in theory you know they're taking. Maybe maybe their video starts going higher in the rank than mine. Maybe their video starts getting recommended to more people because people have been clicking on it and watching it. and I find that to be a little bit frustrating because I sit here thinking you know I'm producing content where you know I'm I'm expressing truth I'm expressing my opinion on something I think that I'm qualified with.

you know a lot of things that I say through my own experience is trading and so I feel like I feel like there's substance to the conversation that I'm having I'm not doing any of this because I'm trying to optimize to make an extra couple dollars on YouTube for what it's worth. The only reason I added monetization to my YouTube channel was because I believed and I don't know this for a fact. but I believe that YouTube uh was not promoting my videos as much because they don't get paid to I Thought you know well doesn't it make sense that YouTube's more likely to recommend videos where people are running ads because YouTube makes money selling ads. You know there was a point last year where nothing changed on my channel in terms of like content but I saw the views go down I was like what's going on I enabled monetization and then the views have started to come back up.

So I mean you know me? I don't know I I'm not sure but in any case I don't care about really the money but what I do care about is putting true valuable content that has substance out there and I want the people who are actually looking for it to find it and yet that makes me feel like in order to get my content in front of people. so they find maybe my take on how to day trade versus someone who is not qualified whatsoever. Now I have to bring myself down to um you know this kind of uh lower level I don't know what you'd call it but of like doing these super obnoxious thumbnails and you know having the you know the F's the the 1.4 F stop with like a blurry light like right behind me. you know oh my God it's just it kills me I find it so obnoxious and you know what? like I'm I don't even know really why I bother making this video because um, you know I mean you guys will watch it, whatever and I don't care for this.

it just is what it is. but it this is just my two cents. It's just my hot take it doesn't Nothing's gonna happen, nothing's gonna change. But I do worry that people who I think arguably are putting out a true substance are gonna get squeezed out by the people capturing the spotlight with the salacious, uh, divisive headline.

you know, click bait stuff because those get more clicks and there are some people that are putting out trying to put out real you know, content of substance. That and they may be actually trying to be a person who makes money on YouTube and you were just going to get crushed by the influencer culture because that's that's what's getting the clicks right now. and so like at the end of the day, you know you could either join them, you know and just be like okay I guess this is you know, join them and start making those. you know those videos you know or you say? well you know it's been a nice run.

uh I'm just kind of getting pushed off to the side I'll continue to have my loyal base of uh, people that actually care about what I say. it's just the way it is and so it kind of comes down to like you guys as consumers of content being a you know every time you click on like that's what? That's one of the reasons I took these apps off my phone at the news apps or even Facebook I don't have Facebook on my phone because I can't The Click bait I can't and I can't stand the garbage videos on Facebook that are like wait till you see it or second Loop of a guy like starting to walk and you're like watch it like 11 times you're like what's happening, like what and and then you're like oh, they got me, they got you got me again God Damn it, this person's making money off those views so Facebook is the worst with that and that's why I don't have Facebook on my phone I don't even want to watch Facebook you know Tick Tock the content there I think and even Instagram is a little bit a little bit better. but but I I don't like either of them and I don't use either of them I'm like no but I'm not I want nothing to do with it because it's so just to me it's like it's obnoxious. So for me I'm kind of voting in that way.

Um, you know, with my choice to uninstall those apps and to not engage or click on those videos, you know anytime there's like a you know these these nine childhood actors, you won't believe where they are now and then You have to click next for each page like I will not I refuse to do that I will not do that so you know I'm just I'm just one person. uh, you know, but maybe maybe I can lead a um, we start a movement here of other people who say, you know what I am going to take this garbage off my phone I'm not going to engage with this type of content. but you know if if it is really the popular culture, you know why we're the you know Kardashians So popular as a show. You know people like watching.

You know it's rich people bickering about. You know if a salad is gluten-free or whatever, right? So you can't argue with if that's what the culture is interested. Um, time to move to some island in the South Pacific where they don't even have iPhones anymore and start building a little house there I don't know I don't know I must sound like I'm like 120. but maybe I'm not alone in this.

uh, this hostility that I'm seeming to develop towards not just mainstream media, but you know social media and influence their culture as well. And I hope that you guys don't look at me as an influencer because I that's I don't look at myself as that I don't Oh God I hope I hope you guys don't think that that's who I am because that would be a bit insulting. Anyway, so that's my hot take. Uh, what do you think I don't know am I alone on this I Hope not.

but maybe all right, that's it for me.