Death by 1000 cuts

Omar connected it to TikTok, to scrolling, to being online. The idea that this thing we do every day, picking up the phone and flipping through videos, is bleeding us out slowly. Not dramatically. Not all at once. Just a little bit every single time we do it.

And he’s right. He’s absolutely right.

Think about what the average man is consuming right now. TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, whatever platform has its hooks in you. The feed is saturated with absolute slop. Propaganda, garbage, mindless nonsense that has zero benefit to your life, your mind, your deen, your family. Zero.

And the algorithm isn’t broken. It’s working exactly the way they designed it.

Give you enough boring, useless content that you keep flipping to find the one video out of a hundred, maybe two hundred, that was actually worth watching. You’re a mouse hitting a lever hoping for a pellet.

I’m not exempt from this. I’m on TikTok. I’ve still caught myself scrolling, turning to my wife and saying out loud, “This is absolute crap. There is nothing of substance here.”

And I meant it every single time.

So I made a change.

On the weekends I go to YouTube and I search. Intentionally. Deliberately. I find videos I actually want to watch, things that challenge me, teach me something, give me something to bring back to my work, my brotherhood, my thinking.

I add them to a watch later playlist and that’s what plays in the truck during the week.

That’s the difference between a man who controls his consumption and a man who gets consumed.

One cut at a time adds up to a body on the floor.

You don’t have to let it be yours.