I was searching for something on a video site when the homepage threw career advice content at me. Curious, I clicked on a few.
After a few moments, I felt genuinely unsettled.
How do I put this? It was like sitting in a restaurant and watching the person next to you eat excrement.
They haven’t done anything to you, but just having them nearby makes your skin crawl.
The internet feels completely surreal to me these days.
Kids fresh out of college filming videos, teaching everyone workplace skills.
Or someone who became an influencer making tens of thousands a month — now they’re going to teach you how to navigate your career.
Think about it this way: you’re a new soldier about to be deployed to the front lines. Someone walks up and tells you they’re a war film director. They’ve made famous war movies. They can pass on some battlefield survival techniques.
Would you trust the director’s advice? Or would you trust the battle-worn veteran standing across from you — clothes tattered, face grey, having survived countless campaigns?
I’m not being petty. I don’t begrudge people their success.
If you’re making entertainment content, fine — earn your money, no judgment.
But work? Work is a serious matter. It’s one of the defining things in a person’s life.
If you spout nonsense carelessly and young people actually believe you — isn’t that poisoning a generation? Ruining lives?
Some young people start out from the same place. It’s often those critical first few years that make all the difference. Miss that window, and the gap just keeps widening.
When I was young, I was harmed by plenty of bestselling self-help books. Took many wrong turns. Paid a heavy price.
And now I watch these young people being poisoned by social media accounts and short videos…
Honestly, I used to think I should discourage people from playing video games. But compared to this garbage, gaming looks practically wholesome by comparison. Genuinely healthy.
I once encouraged friends of mine — the ones who were truly exceptional in their careers, the ones running their own companies — to write and share their real experiences. Then I noticed nobody was reading it, and gradually they stopped writing altogether.
One friend runs a company worth over a billion. I encouraged him to write something — imagine a “Buffett Letter to Shareholders” type of series. He was genuinely moved by the idea. He wrote a few pieces: his reading reflections, and his thoughts on what an ideal subordinate looks like.
I even helped spread the word at the time. The comments section filled up with snark — people mocking the author as some student who’d never held a real job. My friend decided it wasn’t worth it, deleted the account, and never wrote again. I’ve never recommended that anyone start writing since.
And then it hit me — good lord, even I qualify as one of the rare higher-quality voices discussing work-related topics on the Chinese-language internet.
Are there genuinely capable, accomplished people online?
Yes, plenty.
But do you see them sharing their hard-won experience? They don’t write that stuff.
They go online to unwind.
They don’t need the money. Why would they grind to write any of this?
It’s genuinely ironic. I’d even say it’s a little tragic.
This enormous Chinese-language internet, used by hundreds of millions of people — and I can barely find anyone worth learning from or having a real conversation with online.
A friend put it plainly: the people who’ve made it don’t have time to waste words on the internet.
I accept that.
But overseas, the culture around this is genuinely different. Many entrepreneurs write things themselves — sharing concrete, real-world experience. Or they sit down for interview conversations. What they discuss is grounded. Practical.
Some people might say: well, those people have private circles.
True, they do.
But those circles run on relationships, not the internet. The internet hasn’t actually broken down those information walls and made knowledge flow more freely.
So what do we actually gain from scrolling through our phones every day?
Half the time I finish a scrolling session, I can’t even remember what I looked at a few hours ago.
Time, just gone.
So here’s where I’ve landed: if you actually want to learn something, you have to read books.
There’s no other way.
Outside of books, where can an ordinary person actually access genuine knowledge and experience?
Nowhere.
So, young people — read more books, spend less time online.
While you’re young, while you still have the capacity to learn — push hard. The effort you put in now translates directly into what you earn later.
By middle age, you’ll discover just how brutally real this world is. No money is the original sin.
Many people finish school and regret not studying harder. By middle age, they regret not working harder once they entered the workforce.
But there’s no undo button in life.
Focus on doing your own thing well. Live your life steadily, honestly, one day at a time.
The things you find online — believe less, watch less. You’ll find that your sense of contentment actually rises, and your anxiety drops considerably.