Apple Podcasts 
Spotify 
In this episode, I'm talking about how to use social media as a Stoic, although I should probably begin by admitting that I really don't like social media. I think these platforms have made it far too easy for uninformed opinions to become influential simply because they're popular. And while social media has certainly made connecting with people easier, I'm not convinced the benefits outweigh the damage it can do to our ability to think critically, evaluate information, and form reasonable judgments.
Join my free Stoicism community for earnest practitioners: https://skool.com/tannerocampbell
I offer three pieces of advice for using social media without allowing it to compromise your reasoning and judgment.
First, understand what social media platforms actually reward. Popularity, engagement, and mass appeal are not reliable indicators of accuracy or expertise. Even knowledgeable creators have incentives to package their information in ways that attract attention rather than encourage careful understanding. Before accepting what someone says, consider why you're seeing it and what qualifies that person to speak on the subject.
Second, learn to distinguish between information that confirms your opinions and information that's actually true. I use parenting advice as an example, particularly the endless stream of confident recommendations Ross and I encounter about how we should raise our son. It's remarkably easy to accept advice from someone with no particular expertise simply because it agrees with what we already believe. When we repeat that advice to others, we can end up spreading poorly supported claims while imagining we're sharing knowledge.
Third, limit your time on social media. If most of your information comes from short videos, influencers, and algorithmically selected opinions rather than books, lectures, documentaries, or other serious sources of instruction, you're likely doing yourself a disservice. Stoicism asks us to develop our capacity for sound judgment, and that requires exposing ourselves to more than whatever happens to appear in our feeds.
Ultimately, I suggest treating social media as something to visit briefly rather than somewhere to live intellectually. Enjoy the people who make you laugh, consider what you encounter critically, and then spend more of your time engaging with the world and learning from people who genuinely understand their subjects.
Justice, after all, concerns what we owe to the wider human community, and we're unlikely to contribute much to the cosmopolis if we spend our lives reinforcing our own opinions inside algorithmically constructed echo chambers.
Mentioned in this episode:
If you're interested in booking a call with me, please click below to do so ⬇️