Don't let the title fool you, this post isn't about that Web 2.0 social media conglomerate that we all love to hate. Instead, it is an observation that I have made over the past five to ten years and it is cemented in feedback from none other than my wife who just happens to be a mental health professional.
I don't quite remember the first time I heard the term META, but I do remember that I had to do a Google search to figure out what it was referring to. In case you are still in the dark, META is a gaming term which is basically an acronym for Most Effective Tactic Available. It has been co-opted in large part to refer to builds when you are dealing with character builds like skill points, experience points, abilities, etc.
The concept has obviously been around far longer than there was a term for it. I remember getting this guide for Final Fantasy from Nintendo Power before I even owned the game. I knew pretty much every aspect of the game front to back, and I knew that a party of Fighter, Black Belt, White Mage, and Black Mage was my best bet of making it through the game.
Obviously, the more I played, the more I tried other combinations of parties. My absolute favorite ended up being four Black Belts, but that's not really important.
Even a game as old as Monopoly has a de facto set of Most Effective Tactic Available, own Park Place and Boardwalk, build hotels, and win the game. It's an absolute classic.
With the advent of the Internet, gaming communities, social media, and streaming, it's pretty hard not to find that golden ticket to get you where you need to be in whatever game you are playing.
The truth is, as I have proven with Final Fantasy, I fall into this trap myself sometimes. I've been playing Diablo IV and Path of Exile 2 a lot lately, and I'm not immune to visiting sites like https://mobalytics.gg to ensure I am optimizing my build as best as possible. The difference is, I put in the work ahead of time.
As I have said in the past, 
It's almost like critical thinking has become a thing of the past. In fact, there almost seems to be two extremes to the phenomenon. Either they go to the furthest extreme right away like pulling out the blowtorch in the opening photo, or they are stuck in concrete where they can't move forward without step by step instructions.
This might make me a bad boss, but I am not the sort of person who is going to spoon feed solutions to my worker. Everything I know about doing my job I had to pretty much learn through trial and error or by doing research and reading things online. While that second part could be likened to the META mindset, I would argue it is a bit different. Finding the answer online still required a bit of critical thinking and a fundamental knowledge of the problem in general.
As I have said, I am seeing far too often that people simply freeze up when they are presented with a problem that requires even the smallest amount of critical thinking. If that famous streamer can't tell me specifically what to do, I am going to rage quit and just give up.
This is one of the many issues that 
While video games might not be the most important thing in the world (no, they aren't), I fear that this skill or ability of being able to think quickly or "on the fly" is going to continue to diminish and eventually lead to bigger issues down the road.
We are already seeing bits of it here and there with people blindly believing whatever their preferred news outlet feeds to them.
I do my best with my nieces, nephews, and employees to try and teach them how to methodically and effectively approach a problem, but sometimes it feels like a losing battle. Plus, like I said, I'm not into the whole spoon feeding thing, so try a couple times, and if that doesn't work, don't be afraid to ask me for help. I might not give you the answer outright, but I will give you more things to consider trying.
Hopefully in the end that gets us all where we need to be.
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All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or
