Tech for Non-Techies

Why do you keep checking your phone, even when you're trying not to? It's because the apps on your phone use the Hook Model. described by Nir Eyal in his book Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products.

To learn how apps like Instagram, LinkedIn and Vivino keep us coming back to our screens, listen to this episode.

Learning notes from this episode:

• Habits are behaviours done with little or no conscious thought
• If your product becomes a habit, people will use it more. You will spend less on advertising and make more money.
• The greatest return on investment generally comes from increasing the product's ease of use.
  • If you want to improve a product, first look at the design: where you can make it more simple to use. E.g. can you require less information from users when they first sign up?
• The Hook model consists of 4 steps
  1. Trigger: you get a notification that someone commented on your post
  2. Action: you open LinkedIn / Instagram to see the comment
  3. Variable Reward: you find out what the comment was and by whom. Depending on these factors, you might feel happy, sad, excited, disappointed
  4. Investment: you make another post – this is an investment of your time and energy, and you keep coming back for more.

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Join our next FREE Masterclass on 30 November 2022, 12 pm EST / 5 pm GMT

You will learn:

1. The top mistake non-technical leaders make when it comes to tech
2. Leadership case studies from Netflix & Microsoft
3. How to go from traditional business manager to Digital Leader

SIGN UP HERE

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• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar..
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other.
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don't.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on [email protected]

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter.

As the tech sector lays off employees, there is still plenty of opportunity to be a Digital Leader.

Playing the long game is making use of the opportunities you have in front of you today, while keeping your eye on the future.

Here are three ways to become a digital leader today:

• Work in the digital team of a traditional business:
  • Some traditional businesses also have innovative tech-like environments. E.g. Levi's has a Head of AI, L'Oreal works with data scientists to predict consumer trends and Tesco hired the same UX design team that worked for Google.
  • Working in these teams can give you the same exposure and skill sets as working in Big Tech.
  • Word of warning: be careful of traditional businesses that have not yet invested in digital transformation or had success with digital teams. This often means that the leadership's mindset isn't up to date and they are unlikely to be good collaborators in the build-measure-learn approach needed in digital.
• Work with tech sector clients in professional services: banking, consulting, law, marketing etc.
  • E.g. investment bankers that make smart suggestions for acquisitions generate big fees and act as strategic advisors to their clients. But, for this they need to speak tech and link product strategy to business strategy.
• Get involved with tech start-ups.
  • This gives you the opportunity learn, network and transform your personal brand into being seen as a tech leader.
  • Getting involved with start-ups while working in your current role means that when the right opportunity comes, you are ready to grab it.

Join our next FREE Masterclass on 30 November 2022, 12 pm EST / 5 pm GMT

You will learn:

1. The top mistake non-technical leaders make when it comes to tech
2. Leadership case studies from Netflix & Microsoft
3. How to go from traditional business manager to Digital Leader

SIGN UP HERE

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If you like learning about how tech products and profits get made, you'll like our newsletter.

It's funny too. Sign up here.

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• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar..
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other.
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don't.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on [email protected]

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter.

Cloud computing powers most of the digital services you use today. Listen to this podcast episode to learn what it is and why it matters.

Learning notes from this episode:

• The cloud computing is expecting huge growth: the total cloud computing market is estimated to be reach $1,614 by 2030 from $545 billion in 2022, according to Precedence Research.
• Before the advent of cloud computing, technology companies would have had to have their own servers to store data and run computations. Having your own servers is very expensive because you have to pay to
  • keep them secure
  • keep them cool
  • keep them running 24 /7 and pay high electricity costs
  • have a space to keep them
  • maintain them with the help of a specialist
• Cloud computing means that companies do not have to buy and maintain their own servers. Instead, they can just rent space on another company's servers.
  • You can just pay for what you use and expand as you grow.

This is a picture of servers ran by a cloud computing company. Before cloud computing, businesses would have had to have own these things and maintain them at their own premises - a huge cost and a headache.

• Amazon launched cloud computing as a service in 2006, and remains the biggest player in the market today. It counts Netflix, Disney, the UK Ministry of Justice, Kellogs, Guardian News and Media, and the European Space Agency as its customers.
• Cloud computing is relevant to every industry: if you are storing data and using it to make decisions, you need to know about cloud computing.
• The advent of cloud computing drove down the risk of innovation and spurred the creation of start-ups and the VCs funding them. Without cloud computing digital innovation was only available to those who could pay and maintain servers.
• The three biggest players in the cloud computing market are: Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and IBM Cloud.

(Source: Statista)

Join our next FREE Masterclass on 30 November 2022, 12 pm EST / 5 pm GMT

You will learn:

1. The top mistake non-technical leaders make when it comes to tech
2. Leadership case studies from Netflix & Microsoft
3. How to go from traditional business manager to Digital Leader

SIGN UP HERE

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If you like learning about how tech products and profits get made, you'll like our newsletter.

It's funny too. Sign up here.

-----

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar..
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other.
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don't.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on [email protected]

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter.

To lead in the Digital Age, you need a network of developer friends. They can help you understand the latest tech trends and decipher jargon.

But to build the right network, you need to act intentionally. Don't just hunt down anybody who has ever taken a python course.

There are two types of developers: managers and specialists.

All developers start off as coders, but as they progress in their careers, they come to a fork in the road. Some decide to specialise deeper in a particular aspect of technology, whereas others go the management route.

Engineering managers lead teams of engineers, and rarely write code themselves.

In fact, a Chief Technology Officer is unlikely to have written any code for quite some time. Their task is to manage the team, and to work with non-technical teams to align technology strategy to business needs.

Engineers on the management route must take business courses to progress in their careers.

Just as the non-techies need to speak tech, the techies need to speak business.

Because engineers who want to get to the C Suite also need to learn from the business side, your relationships are an equal value exchange.

Build these relationships with mutual respect, and the confidence that you are both bringing something to the table.

Join our next FREE Masterclass on 30 November 2022, 12 pm EST / 5 pm GMT

You will learn:

1. The top mistake non-technical leaders make when it comes to tech
2. Leadership case studies from Netflix & Microsoft
3. How to go from traditional business manager to Digital Leader

SIGN UP HERE

-----

If you like learning about how tech products and profits get made, you'll like our newsletter.

It's funny too. Sign up here.

-----

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar..
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other.
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don't.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on [email protected]

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter.

To succeed in today's economy, you simply have to speak tech. But, if nobody knows about your new digital skills, you won't become a digital leader.

This is why, to go from traditional business manager to digital leader, you need to actively work on changing your professional image.

Here are three hacks to help you change perceptions today:

1) Update your LinkedIn profile

For senior level opportunities, candidates are not expected to apply – they need to be found. Executive recruiters use LinkedIn to find candidates, so make sure that your profile positions you for digital leadership.

This is also a must do for entrepreneurs and those not looking for their next job. Professional opportunities like new clients and employees come to us via LinkedIn, so make sure your profile portrays you as a digital leader.

The most important part of your LinkedIn profile is the tagline under your name. Put key words relevant to your experience and the digital roles you aspire to.

For tagline format, see Sophia Matveeva's LinkedIn profile here.

2) Share content on digital disruption

Sharing content about how digital technologies are changing your industry is a simple way to upgrade your professional image.

For the quickest way to do this, share an article you have already read on digital technologies and add a couple of sentences on why you found it interesting. Make sure to share content from prestigious professional publications, like the Harvard Business Review, the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal.

You could start by sharing Sophia's Harvard Business Review article: Coding Isn't a Necessary Leadership Skill — But Digital Literacy Is.

3) Host events

Host events on how digital technologies are impacting your industry.

As a panel moderator, you get to ask the questions, but you don't have to know the answers. This is a great way to build your knowledge, network and go from being seen as a traditional business manager to a digital leader.

For example, if you work in real estate investing, host a session how technology has changed the industry. Ask a VC, a founder and a digital expert to join your panel.

If you want Sophia to join your panels, contact her on LinkedIn or email [email protected]

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If you like learning about how tech products and profits get made, you'll like our newsletter.

It's funny too. Sign up here.

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To hear what Liz Jin, a lawyer at Google, has to say about working with Sophia, watch this video.

-----

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar..
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other.
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don't.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on [email protected]

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter.

To be digitally savvy, follow the 30% rule – this is the minimum threshold that gives us just enough digital literacy to thrive in the tech age, says Professor Paul Leonardi.

• "To have digital transformation in your company, you don't need to know how to code, but you need to know enough about coding to be dangerous. This means being able to talk to the people in your organisation who are working with your codebase, so you can understand the opportunities and challenges of your platform," says Professor Leonardi.
• "When you are getting a recommendation from a data scientist, it is only ever based on available data. Most data that are available are easiest to et and we systematically bias those data and overlook those metrics that may be just as valuable or more important to our decision making, but are excluded from the process because we never digitised or collected them," advises Professor Leonardi.
  • Whenever looking at a report from a data scientist, ask "What else is there that could be relevant to our decision that we are not counting or seeing?"
• Top 3 areas everyone needs to understand to succeed in the Digital Age:
  1. Understand the data ecosystem (learn about this on the podcast)
  2. Understand how our communications have changed as a result of digital technologies
  3. Make sure that your organisation is a learning organisation because digital technologies are always evolving

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Book: The Digital Mindset: What It Really Takes to Thrive in the Age of Data, Algorithms, and AI by Paul Leonardi & Tsedal Neeley
• Podcast episode: 108. How to work with a data scientist, interview with Dr Catherine Breslin

Join our next FREE training

You will learn:

• The top mistake non-technical leaders make when it comes to tech
• Leadership case studies from Netflix & Microsoft
• How to combine tech & business skills to have a great career

Live online: 26 October 2022, 12 pm EDT / 5 pm BST

-----

If you like learning about how tech products and profits get made, you'll like our newsletter.

It's funny too. Sign up here.

-----

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar..
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other.
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don't.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on [email protected]

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter.

If you want to have a great career today, you simply have to Speak Tech. But, taking courses is not enough. You must combine learning with smart actions to make your investment pay off.

Here are five action steps you can take today to thrive in the Tech Age:

1. Get involved with a tech start-up:
   • if you have specialist expertise, offer to become an advisor to a start-up so you can learn how digital innovation works from the inside.
   • For example, if you are a lawyer, offer your legal expertise in exchange for sitting in product meetings as an observer.
2. Get involved with an accelerator:
   • this is like point one, but instead of offering your expertise to a specific start-up, offer it to an organisation that helps start-ups.
   • angel investment networks are also another useful route to follow here.
3. Create your own tech focussed meet-ups:
   • This is especially useful if you want to learn and build your network in a particular niche. For example, if you work in a real estate investment fund, host events with start-ups and corporate innovators who are inventing new products in this space.
   • By being the moderator of these discussions, you grow your knowledge, build your network and expand your personal brand.
4. Go to the innovation department or the product team and ask them what they are working on.
   • One of my students did this. Juliet Eysenck was a journalist at the Telegraph Media Group in the UK. She built relationships with the digital product team and ended up pivoting her career to become a product leader.
   • Listen episode 11. How to Transition into Product Management for Non-Techies with Juliet Eysenck to hear how she did it.
5. Look at your existing LinkedIn connections, find people who are working in technology innovation and contact them.
   • Remember, this contact does have to work in a tech company. They could be like Juliet, working on the digital side of a traditional business innovation.
   • Ask these contacts to meet up so you can ask them about their work. You might make new friends or rekindle friendships, while building knowledge for your career.

Join our next FREE training

You will learn:

• The top mistake non-technical leaders make when it comes to tech
• Leadership case studies from Netflix & Microsoft
• How to combine tech & business skills to have a great career

Live online: 26 October 2022, 12 pm EDT / 5 pm BST

-----

If you like learning about how tech products and profits get made, you'll like our newsletter.

It's funny too. Sign up here.

-----

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar.
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other.
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don't.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on [email protected]

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter.

"The business strategies employed by highly successful start-ups and the career strategies employed by highly successful individuals are strikingly similar," says Reid Hoffman in his book The Startup of You.

• VC premise 1: technology is a tool that solves a problem
  • Ask yourself: what problems is your industry facing now? What problems are you dealing with on day-to-day basis?
• VC Premise 2: the problem must be important enough to solve
  • Even if the problem exists, it might not be important enough to solve.
  • This is why, you need to think: where is the biggest money drain? Where is the biggest productivity drain?
• VC premise 3: Invest in the future, not in the now

  • VCs are not investing in today. They are investing in years and even decades ahead. Let's use the same approach to your career.

  • Does your industry or the company you are working at look promising? Make a plan for how to adjust for future changes. Making a career change always takes longer than we want.

• VC premise 4: diversify your assets
  • This means doing well in your current role well, and also getting involved with other projects.

  • One of the best ways to do this is to get involved with start-ups, because this helps you understand how innovation works in practice and gives you fresh ideas.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Speak Tech: the top 10 tech concepts for business leaders (FREE GUIDE)
• Non-Technical Founders Don't Need to Cod‪e‬ - Sophia's podcast interview with Alexandra Zubko, 3 x tech founder
• 74. How I got to the top in tech - Sophia's podcast interview with Jennifery Byrne, ex CTO Microsoft US

-----

If you like learning about how tech products and profits get made, you'll like our newsletter.

It's funny too. Sign up here.

-----

• Reach senior leadership positions in Big Tech firms
• Lead digital transformation in established businesses
• Create tech businesses as non-technical founders
• Pivot into careers in venture capital

If you want to have a great career in the Digital Age, then APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL.

What happens when you apply for a consultation call:

1. Sophia and her team will look through your application. If they genuinely think Sophia could help you, you will get a link to her calendar..
2. You will have a 20 – 30 minute call to discuss your goals and see if you are a good fit for each other.
3. If we establish that Tech for Non-Techies courses + coaching could help you and believe we would enjoy working together, we will discuss a relevant approach to suit you.
4. The aim of the call is not to sell you on anything that is not right for you. We both win if you get results, but we both lose if you don't.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on [email protected]

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter.

Software updates can have weird unintended consequences that the company doesn't even know about. Existing features that worked perfectly can stop working, leading to lost revenues and annoyed customers.

Listen to this episode to learn why this happens and how non-technical leaders deal with it when it does.

Learning notes from this episode:

• A developer could write a line of code to affect one outcome, and there could be a completely different unintended outcome that they don't even know about it.
  • When an app, site or algorithm gets complicated enough, these unintended consequences are more and more likely to happen.
• To prevent this, make sure that different people test the new version on different devices and browsers.
  • In tech teams, this function is called Quality Assurance.
• Remember that these unintended consequences are inevitable. The key is to catch them early and correct course.
  • Create a process for your users to quickly tell you if something goes wrong. The beauty of software products is that you can usually get rid of a bug in the system in the next release. The key is to find out about it in the first place.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Speak Tech: the top 10 tech concepts for business leaders (FREE GUIDE)
• The Metaverse: And How it Will Revolutionize Everything by Matthew Ball

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If you like learning about how tech products and profits get made, you'll like our newsletter.

It's funny too. Sign up here.

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For individuals, APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL for Tech For Non-Techies membership.

For companies: If you want to increase productivity, innovation and diversity, then your non-technical teams need to learn how to collaborate with the techies.

BOOK A CALL to discuss bespoke training & consulting.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on [email protected]

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter.

Technology is a tool, not an end in itself. The quickest way to bridge the gap between tech and business teams is to relate business outcomes to technology.

Learning notes from this episode:

• In every company, you always have two sides: the people who make the product, and the people who sell the product.
  • The aim of both sides is to grow the business, but they solve the same problem using different expertise. (It's like Oceans 11, but legal)
• As a leader your job is not to know everything, but to set a vision and break it down into goals. You need to learn, but you also need to know when to stop.
  • This is how non-technical founders build tech ventures and how corporate executives transform traditional organisations into digital leaders.
• One of the biggest reasons non-technical leaders struggle to collaborate with their technical counterparts is fear that they will not understand what the technologists are talking about.
  • To solve, this, you need to learn to Speak Tech.
  • A quick hack, even without knowing any tech concepts, is to relate business outcomes to technology.
• Most tech tools help companies achieve these four business aims:
  1. Reach scale
  2. Increase efficiency
  3. Increase customer satisfaction
  4. Improve security

You can start learning how to become a Digital Leader today by asking your tech colleagues how their work impacts these four areas.

Previous class attendees said:

• "Super helpful content that can be applied to a wider range of professions, presented in a fun, personable way."
• "Love presenter's extensive knowledge and experience, and use of concrete examples to convey points"
• "Presenter brought energy, humor & clarity."
• "The inspiration I needed to hear the stories of non-tech people getting involved in tech."

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If you like learning about how tech products and profits get made, you'll like our newsletter.

It's funny too. Sign up here.

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For individuals, APPLY FOR A CONSULTATION CALL for Tech For Non-Techies membership.

For companies: If you want to increase productivity, innovation and diversity, then your non-technical teams need to learn how to collaborate with the techies.

BOOK A CALL to discuss bespoke training & consulting.

We love hearing from our readers and listeners. So if you have questions about the content or working with us, just get in touch on [email protected]

Say hi to Sophia on Twitter and follow her on LinkedIn.

Following us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will make you smarter.