I’ve been in the blogging “business” for almost two decades now. My first blog was on Earthlink dial-up, way back in the 90’s. Writing my thoughts, sharing my experiences, teaching the lessons I’ve learned over the years. Asking hard questions, and working through the answers.
I was a blogger way before Facebook existed, before Twitter was even a thing. Then all of these “micro-blogging” sites popped up, which were geared towards a business model of advertising. They are an ADD’ers worst nightmare. There isn’t any meaningful discourse, only re-posted sound bytes, advertising, and virtual chain letters (and dank memes). There are now entire sites built around only reposting other people’s content (I’m looking at you, Pinterest).
I’m not interested in the spammy advertising model of any of these micro-blogging sites. I don’t care about likes, reposts, adverts, or clickbait headlines. I don’t care about shallow hit-and-run interaction. I could certainly do without all the visual noise and clutter.
What exactly am I gaining from participating in these time sinkholes? Am I using them to advertise something? If you’re not, chances are I don’t need them in my life, taking over my spare time. I certainly don’t need them. And I’ve been on almost all of them at some point. Yes, even Myspace. Sigh.
I think this speaks to how our communication, as a whole, has become largely trite and ineffective. I don’t enjoy using micro-blogging sites, because you never get more than scratching the surface. The superficiality of it all just makes me want to stop talking to shallow people. And because of the nature of the media, that’s all you ever get to see: people’s shallow thoughts. Meaningless “likes” and re-shares. There are very few people with new ideas, and even fewer who can articulate those ideas effectively. 99% of what we see and hear on social media is regurgitated pablum (and untrustworthy, at that).
So how shall we utilize the internet for its intended purpose of conveyance of ideas?
My suggestion: Minimize micro-blogging social media. It’s infested with spam, advertising, and shallow drivel. Dive into a topic and explore it fully, with actual thinking. Communicate with complete sentences and fully-formed thoughts. Follow the arguments until you’ve become satisfied with a logical conclusion. Don’t settle for “conversation lite.” And don’t fall for clickbait.
“But shouldn’t you expose those platforms to new ideas? Why quit them all together?”
It’s not my responsibility to force ideas into people’s heads. If they’re interested in thinking outside the box, they’re welcome to do a search and find me. The fact that you’re reading this is proof of it.
“But you’re missing out on reaching all those people!”
I don’t care. Not my problem. Micro-blogging Social Media isn’t the place for conveying ideas. It’s only good for drive-by memes and sound bites. I will use it to stay in touch with people I know, but other than that, I really have no use for it.
The idea of “I have to reach as many people as I can!” is a flawed one. You will accomplish more with reaching five people who want to listen to you than five hundred who don’t. It’s FOMO, plain and simple.
Ironically, this is probably one of my shortest blog posts. Lol.