Developing a personal emotional relationship with an inhuman object (media exposure, heavy social media use, an institution) leads to its own special kind of heartbreak.
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Media exposure is the spotlight of attention bandits making use of you for their ends. It isn’t under your control.
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While you can develop a good working relationship with a given journalist, the good will of the class only lasts while good stories about you drive the cycle and brings them clicks, viewers or helps an ideological message.
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Consequently years of excellent PR amount to much less than you expect (there is no social accounting going on under the hood - its all situational persistence).
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With all of these examples and many others I could list the crucial thing to keep in mind is: Only people are people.
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People won’t always account for you and they make mistakes, but they are capable of participating in emotional life that is responsive to you. They can sometimes be predatory, but they can also come into alignment. Not perfect, but better than any alternative.
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Our attentional environment is saturated with exposure to mimics such as the ones I listed and many more, that attempt to induce unhealthy emotional dependency. You should strive to craft a well balanced alternative, it won’t be given to you by default.
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This is extra important if you are a public personality. If so you should treat your exposure as an occupational hazard.
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