Why the Digital Age Is Losing the Plot — And How It Costs Careers and Companies Real Money

By Hiran de Silva

When Sir Isaac Newton described gravity, he didn’t accompany it with a cinematic wide shot, soft lighting, and a thumbnail of himself pointing at a falling apple.

He simply explained the truth.

The same is true for Charles Darwin, Galileo, Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci, Maxwell, Einstein — thinkers who advanced civilisation. They shared knowledge that stood independently of them as people.

Gravity works even when Newton isn’t on YouTube.

Evolution remains valid even when Darwin is not producing short-form reels.

The value in their work was not tied to personality, branding, thumbnails, or engagement metrics.
It was tied to accuracy, repeatability, relevance, and application.

Their methods were clear.
Their assumptions were transparent.
Their results could be reproduced by anyone.

And above all:

Their purpose was to advance understanding — not to promote themselves.

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Today: The Opposite World

Fast-forward to 2025.

The dominant purpose of much “educational” content is not accuracy.
It is not practical value.
It is not relevance to real business needs.

It is visibility.

Likes. Views. Watch time.
The dopamine economy.

Creators optimise for the algorithm.
Audiences reward entertainment.
The feedback loop produces celebrity, not knowledge.

And here is the danger:

If a misleading or incomplete tutorial reaches a million views, it causes a million units of misunderstanding.

In the Excel world, this phenomenon is extreme.

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The Excel Paradox: Popular ≠ Useful

There are now 5,000–10,000 YouTube videos teaching consolidation using Power Query.

They follow the same formula:

• 5 to 10 minutes long
• A friendly face
• A nice background
• A quick demo
• A message framed as “This is the best way to do it!”

And almost zero of them warn viewers of the critical limitations:

• The data model is embedded inside a single workbook.
• Therefore, it is not shareable across a department, business unit, or enterprise.
• Therefore, it cannot be used for multi-user collaboration.
• Therefore, it cannot scale to hundreds of operating units.
• Therefore, it is not suitable for actual enterprise consolidation — which is precisely where consolidation matters most.

In other words:

The most-watched tutorials are also the most misleading for the exact audience that needs better guidance.

Because reality is this:

Consolidation requires:

• Remote accessibility
• Centralised data
• Multi-user editing
• Instant Get/Put
• A client–server architecture
• A relational database backend

Not one of these is achievable when the data model is trapped inside an Excel file.

Yet not one of the “popular” videos discusses this.

This is the Newton–YouTube paradox:
Knowledge that looks good on camera often breaks the moment you apply enterprise-level requirements.

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Creators Know This — But the Algorithm Won’t Let Them Say It

Some of the biggest Excel influencers have old videos that are now incorrect or obsolete.

Do they remove them?

Of course not.

Why?

Because they already have:

• hundreds of thousands of views
• thousands of comments
• algorithmic momentum
• backlinks

Deleting them would mean sacrificing the proof-of-authority that drives their income.

So obsolete knowledge remains available.
Outdated methods continue to be recommended.
Tutorials with limitations remain uncorrected.

And because the algorithm rewards views, not truth:

In 5–10 years, the most-promoted Excel content will increasingly be the most obsolete.

This is not a criticism of individuals; it is a structural flaw in the ecosystem.

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The Result? Novices Are Trained for the Swamp

A beginner sees a smiling face, watches a polished demo, and thinks:

“This must be the right way.”

But the technique breaks the moment it meets:

• scale
• complexity
• workflow
• multi-user environments
• real audit requirements
• business hierarchy needs

It breaks in the exact environments where their boss — and their boss’s boss — actually operate.

This becomes a career trap.

The novice learns what looks good on YouTube…
…not what works in the real world.

And so:

Businesses suffer avoidable costs.
Individuals miss opportunities.
The same errors repeat.
The same misconceptions spread.

All because the wrong people — the algorithm — are deciding what knowledge matters.

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The Side-by-Side Test (Mark Proctor Example)

If you take:

(A) A typical YouTube reconciliation or consolidation demo

— friendly presenter, rapid steps, no context, no boundaries —

and put it next to:

(B) A Digital Librarian demonstration

— no face, but with:

• centralised database
• Get/Put
• remote access
• instant consolidation
• scalability to hundreds of units
• actual enterprise requirements addressed

The question becomes embarrassingly simple:

Which one helps your boss?
Which one helps your boss’s boss?
Which one advances your career?

It is not the one with the face.

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Truth Does Not Require a Human Face

Shakespeare’s work survives even though we do not possess a single manuscript in his own handwriting.

Darwin’s work survives even when explained by teachers he never met.

Newton’s gravity survives without his personal charisma.

Knowledge is valuable because it works — not because of who presents it.

That principle has been lost in the YouTube era.

We now prioritise:

• polish
• entertainment
• personality
• thumbnails
• rapid-fire demos
• “hacks”
• “tricks”
• and “watch me do this in 30 seconds!”

…over the careful explanation of what actually works.

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The Enterprise Reality Test

(The Intergalactic Digital Librarian Challenge)

Take any popular Excel technique and place it into the real enterprise environment:

• 400 operating units
• hundreds of budget holders
• live updates
• audit trails
• simultaneous usage
• version control
• multi-level rollups
• secure access
• instant consolidation

Then ask: does the technique stand up?

Most YouTube techniques collapse immediately.
They were never designed for that world.

But the Digital Librarian architecture does stand up — instantly, repeatedly, and demonstrably.

And because it does, the uncomfortable truth emerges:

We are teaching millions of learners the wrong things because they look better on camera.

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So What Is More Valuable?

A video that:

• looks pretty
• has a friendly face
• gets thousands of likes
• is shallow
• is obsolete
• is misleading
• breaks in real environments
• and misguides beginners for years?

Or a video that:

• shows the truth
• demonstrates what actually scales
• meets enterprise requirements
• explains cause, effect, and context
• protects careers
• protects businesses
• but has no human face?

Which one matters more to your manager?
Your CFO?
Your COO?
Your audit team?
Your board?

Which one is more valuable to you?

Because your career trajectory is not determined by influencers.
It is determined by:

• your boss
• your boss’s boss
• and the business problems you can solve.

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Conclusion: Return to the Newton Standard

Newton didn’t need a viral thumbnail to prove gravity.
Shakespeare didn’t need reels to demonstrate narrative genius.
Da Vinci didn’t need a lighting setup to explain anatomy.

Their work stood on the value of the knowledge itself.

We must return to that standard.

In the Excel world — and beyond — we must prioritise:

• truth over appearance
• accuracy over virality
• context over convenience
• scalability over shortcuts
• enterprise needs over algorithmic trends

Otherwise, millions will continue learning techniques that lead them straight into the swamp.

The Digital Librarian exists to prevent that.