How many of us are good at regurgitation? And by that, I don’t mean puking. I mean synthesizing the information we learn about on a daily basis and spewing it back to other people. Are their individuals we trust a great deal, even though we may have never met them in real life? Figures of importance, opinion leaders, political leaders who can make us buy into something, and we then take that information and disseminate it to our closest friends and circles? Even if you can’t think of an example off the top of your head right now, I assure you that you have seen this play out in real life. In fact, you probably see this happen in real life every four years during the times of presidential elections. If you are doing a slight little head nod to yourself right now as you’re reading this, then let me tell you a little more of what is at play. It is called the Two-step Flow theory.
What Is It?
The Two-step Flow theory is a mass communication theory that posits that the media no longer has such great impact on us as it did with the hypodermic needle theory. Check my previous blog post here for more information about that. Instead, mass media affects political leaders, opinion leaders, celebrities—anyone who has the ability to disseminate that information to the masse. These individuals sift through the streams of media, choosing to tell us, their followers, what they deem is important enough to note.
Even with politics aside, I see this theory being strangely accurate to how I go about my gym experience currently. Every morning I wake up and make myself breakfast, and while I eat breakfast, I listen to a YouTube influencer named Greg Doucette, or “Coach Greg” as he goes by on YouTube. Coach Greg has a little over 1 million subscribers and I find his channel interesting to watch. His channel is famous for calling out the B.S. in the fitness industry, and what he likes to do is comment and react to other videos and research and explain why they are either right or wrong based upon his own credentials, those being that of a IFBB Pro Bodybuilder and someone who has a master’s degree in Kinesiology. Below is one of his more recent YouTube videos where he calls some of the B.S. that dieticians give to people through the internet.
Since starting my daily routine with Coach Greg, I’ve found myself changing my eating habits, my workout program, and I influence those around me by showing them the results that I have gained through doing so. I am not afraid of eating things like French toast, or ice cream any longer because I make it myself, it tastes delicious, and I know exactly what I am putting into my body. I make healthy versions of all the food I would normally not allow myself, and I have many people always asking me to cook for them now. Recently, I saw this ad on Facebook.
After seeing this ad, I immediately had to comment on it and correct the author. Eating sugar by itself isn’t bad. At the end of the day, as Coach Greg has taught me, if your body needs 3000 calories, and 2000 of that comes from sugar, and you eat nothing else, you’re still in a calorie deficit and will lose weight.
Of course, most people wouldn’t just eat a glass full of sugar, anyway. However, when sugar is mixed with fat and food, it becomes highly palatable and that is the issue because many people cannot control their cravings. Many people ended up liking my comment when I posted it.
Final Thoughts
This is how the Two-Step Flow Theory is currently affecting my life, but I’m curious as to how it is affecting yours. Do you follow any political leader or influencer? If so, who? Let me know in the comments down below and some of the advice you absorb and spill back to your friends.
