The other day, the Instagram algorithm recommended me the videos of a girl who specializes in facial massage techniques. Or something. I don't know, it was quite late, but essentially, there's this lady who claims to be able to "fix" facial puffiness and droopy eyelids and whatnot through lymphatic drainage and massage techniques.
Quite an impressive account -- she had over a million followers, I think, and hundreds of thousands of views on her videos. I did see a sort of introductory one where she said how she didn't like how her face was aging when she was 25 and then started doing all this research, and now looked completely different thanks (apparently) to facial massage and lymphatic drainage.
That wasn't the part that interested me. What interested me was the hundreds of hours of research bit. As someone who's fairly interested in that sort of stuff, I resolved to look into it, but I know most people wouldn't. They'd just subscribe and take it at face value that this stranger on the Internet did all that research so that they don't have to.
It's interesting to me that, though we live today in a world of information and knowledge, all we seem interested in is piggy-backing anyone who actually "did the work". We'll see this sort of "did hours of research so you don't have to" approach online for everything. Diet, workouts, skincare. And we'll take them all at face value, relieved that someone else did it so we don't have to.
And my problem isn't with the people who did (or maybe didn't do) the research and became these gurus. My problem is with the people following them. It's with this notion that information can be this cheap, readily-available thing that we adopt wholesale and without second-thought.
It seems to me that if something is worth investing in -- first financially, but also with your health -- it's worth researching as well. I think it's rather dangerous to just roam the Internet and take what's offered for good. I think it's a dangerous concept, one that can be seen beyond something so trivial as our skincare routine.
This sense of entitlement that someone out there will do the hours of research, peruse documents, backtrack through history or wrap their brains around unfamiliar concepts, is seeping into our approach to politics and healthcare.
And if we won't even spare the time to research something fairly simple as, say, facial massage or a particular ingredient in face cream, what hope do we have as a group of understanding complex political history or hard science, you know?
When I started changing my diet, I started following all sorts of pages about that. For instance, I follow a woman who talks about leptin resistance and how to fix your hormones through diet and regulating your circadian rhythm.
Ever so often, I'll see a video from her and be like "hell yeah". But here's the thing. I don't know that I can trust her or her research. And while it would be very convenient to take the information she shares for good and apply it to my life, it's all based on a very happenstance approach. Like, I hope I luck out.
And maybe with this particular matter, I would.
But how many times can you luck out before you inevitably don't? And what exactly can you afford to gamble with? Adopt a faulty skincare routine, your face might break out. Adopt a faulty diet, it could lead to major disregulation and vitamin deficiency. Adopt a faulty approach to politics? Healthcare? The rights of your fellow man? Could have far dicier repercussions.
There's an old saying that claims if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. You can't trust that some random stranger on the Internet will do those hours and hours of research because they like you and wanna be nice.
Which isn't to say don't trust anyone. Only, develop and hone your own filter. And never cease from growing and expanding it.
I don't know about lymphatic drainage. I don't know about leptin resistance. I will, as I can, look into it until I am reasonably knowledgeable on the subject. Until then, I'll take any information presented to me with a grain of salt.
