You Are The Product

There is something nefarious that we all know about but collectively seem to forget about. We are the product, on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, and even LinkedIn, we are the product.

Each of these social media platforms, however professional they proclaim themselves to be, sells us to their advertisers. With LinkedIn they just also sell us to companies, “Hey we have X-million users looking for jobs.”

What’s even worse is that it seems sites like Pnet, SEEK, 3SMedia, and other job sites have started treating us the exact same way. Job seekers are no longer desperate people who need to find a job, and what’s worse is that as things have progressed, I now know that other millennials my age are also struggling.

Have you heard of ghost jobs? These are jobs that perfectly functioning companies post across job sites to make it look like they are always growing. This is probably the most insane and depressing thing I have learned in 2024, so far. This information comes from a video I saw recently.

A 28-year-old girl who does programming explained that she is deathly afraid of being unemployed, which she now actually kind of is. Because after graduating and getting her degree it took her over 3000 applications to finally land her first job. After having done multiple interviews at other places where they always ghosted her at some point.

During the video, she explained that as soon as she started at her new, and first, job she started applying for other jobs. Simply because she knew that it would be necessary when she did get laid off or let go. What’s worse is, that she explained the latest job that she had where they did layoffs on a mass scale, was her third job.

You read that right, she is working at three places all at once. For the simple reason that not one of them pays enough to pay her rent, food, and everything else.

I am sorry, but can we process that. Because I have lately come to the realization that there is a chance, I may need to do the same soon.

It has become a job to look for a job. Then when you get a job, you need another job to be able to afford just living. To make things even worse, you must sift through thousands of job adverts that are purposefully fake. I really don’t care what the opinion is of those who have worked for 20 years or more.

If you feel comfy and have people headhunting you, then you must simply realize that you are extremely privileged. Because for those of us who must job search and then convince people that, yes, we can indeed do the job we have been doing for a decade or more.

Then when you do get job offers you are told that you aren’t worthy of living. You must do more than one job just to afford the privilege of being alive, it doesn’t matter whether someone buys a Starbucks, Seattle Coffee Company, or Woollies coffee each morning.

The simple fact is, that people that do that, have no other pleasure in life than that simple cup of coffee. The fact that someone needs to do multiple jobs or that you want to think that not drinking coffee each morning will somehow mean that every other financial problem is solved is pure asinine.

But, we need to also realize that the same people that tell us to “work harder!” or “accept the shitty jobs”, see us as nothing more than disposable, exploitable, numbers on their personal assistant's spreadsheets. Because you can bet your sweet patootie, that these kinds of people don’t read or create spreadsheets.  

This is why it is important to remember and learn that on social media and on job-seeking websites, we have become nothing more than a product. It is our job to be sold by them to advertisers, to be another number, another person that is just there to be shilled to.

Whether that is by job-knowing gurus, or by those who want to advertise. It has become so abundant and so abusive that video websites now advertise their advertising. Use TikTok-sponsored content to advertise yourself, and build up your views. Create a Google Ads account to help promote your blog site. Create sponsored ads on YouTube to boost your total viewership.

All of these are things they want you to do, to see, to be sold to. Because the only reason you would consider doing this is because you know their product is something you want. And ironically, their product is you.