The irony with this one is that the actual responsibility for our decisions lies on our own shoulders at the end of the day. If you get caught up in hype instead of doing your own due diligence and that bad decision bites you, that’s not actually anyone else’s fault. This is a concept much of society struggles with now, the notion that generally speaking you are responsible for yourself and all of your own actions, but it always has and always will be the truth.
Here’s something you might not hear too often from people online – take everything you read here with a pinch of salt. I don’t say that because I question my own integrity, I say it because that is what you should be doing with absolutely everything and everyone because nothing and nobody is perfect. I’m far from perfect, there are an almost infinite number of things that I’m not even aware that I don’t know.
Prior experience and qualifications do not guarantee impartiality. Large social media followings are far from a guarantee of knowledge. Stylish photography and video editing is not a guarantee of objectivity. Impressive sounding language does not guarantee veracity.
You can never be 100% certain that investing in a given item will work out for you, but there are some things you can do to mitigate the risk. Look at the manufacturers’ history, what they’ve done before and how they have handled problems. Who do they market their product to? Who actually buys it? Is the feedback posted online good on the whole? If you read or watch a review, look through a good portion of that reviewers body of previous work and figure out if they’re trustworthy and educated. Most importantly (and this is the real secret sauce) put in the effort to learn for yourself what the key factors are in any potential purchase and where you should be looking closely. The one person you should have the best chance of hearing the truth from is yourself.
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