I'm so done with this internet crap

In the early 2000s, getting online was an event.

You’d sit there, listening to the modem screeching as it dialled up, waiting a full minute to connect. No scrolling to pass the time, just waiting. And it felt worth it.

Back in the 80s, computer games didn’t come pre-loaded.

If you wanted to play, you had to code it in yourself. Hours spent typing line after line, and then more hours hunting down every typo, every tiny error.

Finally, the game would load. We’d play these basic games for ages.

Then you’d turn off the computer, and it was gone. All that work, wiped out.

Now it’s 2024, and we’re hooked on quick fixes and instant gratification.

If a Netflix series doesn’t grab us in five minutes, we’re already onto the next.

Scroll through your feed for a minute.

Everywhere, you’ll find posts offering easy solutions to life’s biggest challenges and promising three steps to success. But if it were that simple, why are so many people still struggling?

Because it’s all nonsense.

This overly simplified advice gets attention because we’ve become addicted to dreams, drawn to the idea that success should be easy. The truth? It isn’t. And frankly, I’m fed up with it. I’m fed up with the damage it does.

This fantasy that success is easy leaves people thinking, If it’s this simple for everyone else, maybe there’s something wrong with me.

So instead of focusing, working, and pushing through, people are jumping from one “holy grail” solution to the next, searching for the next easy win.

Take a friend of mine. He’s £64k in debt, running a business that barely covers the bills, yet he’s spent £40k on courses and programmes. He’s deeply unhappy, constantly stressed, and now even considering finding a job.

Just last week, he bought another course. Even though I pleaded with him to stop, he just couldn’t resist. He probably won’t complete it either.

He’s done book-writing courses but hasn’t written a single page.

YouTube training, but never posted a video.

Every time, it’s the same story.

Common sense should kick in, right?

Apparently not.

I know because I’ve been there myself. About 20 years ago, I was broke and frustrated. One night, over a few drinks, a group of us started daydreaming about winning the lottery, planning out exactly how we’d spend an £8m jackpot. Houses, cars, holidays. We even planned out who we’d give money to and how we’d invest it. We built the fantasy to the last detail.

After hours in that daydream, I couldn’t shake it. I had to buy a ticket.

Did I win? No.

Was I disappointed? Yes.

Did I know the odds were against me? Absolutely.

But I still bought the ticket, letting that fantasy override common sense.

This is how the internet works. We’re shown perfect pictures of the future, and caught up in the emotion, we buy into them. We hit “buy,” and by the time real work is required, the motivation is long gone.

Back then, instead of spending £1 on a ticket, I should have written a plan to reach my goals and got to work.

But I didn’t. I bought into the fantasy.

Now imagine that on a massive scale.

“Sell them what they want; give them what they need.” That’s the blueprint. Sell the luxury lifestyle, then deliver a course with the “method” to get there.

Some course creators even admit that most people don’t reach the promised results. Recently, one was ordered to pay $14m in compensation because not a single buyer got the outcome they were sold.

The problem is, we buy based on emotion, not logic. We’re sold dreams, but when it’s time to work, the spark’s gone.

We’re all guilty. We need to commit to more than just the outcome. We need to commit to the effort it takes to get there.

Sellers should think twice too. Pushing outcomes they know hardly anyone reaches is bordering on criminal. I’ve stopped selling online courses for this reason. Now, I focus on implementation programmes that get people to do the real work.

As long as we keep chasing the fantasy of “success without effort,” we’ll be poorer, less informed, and a select few will be laughing all the way to the bank.

Is this new? Not at all. But the emotional pull of “success without effort” is spreading fast.

Emotion is hijacking common sense.

And our vulnerability is someone else’s payday.

Coming back to my friend. He’s £64k in debt. If he hadn’t bought all those courses, the “lottery tickets,” he’d be £40k better off.