Can the Internet Teach You How to be a Better Person?

Most people who know me know that I am a “personal growth” junkie. I’m always buying books on spirituality, forgiveness, finding your passion in life and everything else under the sun (it doesn’t help that I’m also a book and blog junkie more generally).

I’m blessed to have more than a couple of mentors to help me on my walk to become better spiritually, professionally, physically and emotionally. So I’m also prone to a lot of journaling (and perhaps over-thinking ).

One of the first things I noticed when I joined twitter is the huge number of “life coaches,” “law of attraction specialists” and the like. Initially I found myself following quite a large number of them because they always seemed so positive, upbeat and full of “good” advice. Twitter is unique in the way that it allows you to create an entire universe of people to your specification.

But we often forget that the internet is an artificial space, people can create whatever image of themselves that they want. Anyone with an internet connection can be a “marketing guru,” “jet-setter,” “intellectual” or “motivational speaker.” The internet is kind of amazing in that way. One could argue that it allows brilliant and passionate people, to reach potentially millions of internet users, in a way that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to. On the other hand, it also allows personable, engaging and ill-intentioned people to take advantage of people in crisis by convincing them that they can solve their problems.

What I discovered while following many of these life coaches on twitter, through their blogs, and even one over the phone, is that often it is just another hustle. While they are sending you uplifting messages, they are simultaneously trying to convince you to buy their e-books, audio tapes, web-seminars and other products, oftentimes pricing these items at hundreds, or even thousands of dollars. While I am not attempting to argue that they don’t deserve to make money and “live abundantly.” I am suggesting that there is something seriously wrong when the only people who can afford to “change their lives” are the extraordinarily wealthy.

The deeper problem being, that many of these life-coaches do not have the skill sets or lived experiences needed to effectively help others reach their life goals. But how can you know this if you only encounter them over the phone or through the internet? To often, people who have survived crisis think that survival is the only requirement needed to help others manage their lives.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of genuine, valuable and accessible resources on the internet that can help facilitate healthy personal growth (see my blog roll to the right for some sites that I really love).

But at the end of the day, I don’t think the internet can replace the type of mentorship that comes from a student identifying what they need and seeking out people and resources in their non-internet lives to guide their growth.

After many walks down the wrong path(s), the question I always ask myself before accepting the advice of another is this: does this person live the type of life that I would want to live? If I can’t answer the question honestly and thoroughly, or if I don’t like the answer… I walk away…

peace.

“When you buy into someone’s opinion, you buy into their lifestyle.” ~Stan Richards

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