Alternative title: Why this blog?
In the current age of social media many of us are consumers of content. That’s why I want to be a creator not only a consumer. I want to have my own personal space to create, outside of realm of platforms run by trillion dollar companies.
The social graph
There is a social phenomenon called the Friendship Paradox which describes that on average a person has less friends than the average of their friends. And I think this not only applies to social media sites, like Instagram, Reddit, TikTok (I guess) and especially YouTube, but is even amplified there. The vast majority of content is produced by an absolute minority of users on the platform. Few creators, many consumers.
Pros and Cons of social media use
I think most people agree that social media has its benefits and downsides. Benefits such as:
- Increased connectivity,
- Defying boredom
- Faster and more flow of information
We can stay in touch with people that we have not met in a long time. We can keep informed on news and topics we care about. This is why it’s hard to quit and not participate in social media: It can be genuinely useful. But I argue that these benefits are also the main reason why social media has negative impacts.
- The increased connectivity can induce anxiety and FOMO and more shallow connections. -
- The increased flow of information can feel very overwhelming, because it just never stops, it is never finished, never enough, there’s always more.
- Boredom is actually good sometimes and we should be bored more often.
It all comes down to the dose. And since social media is designed for keeping people in the app for as long as possible, many people overdose. It’s subtle, inducing behaviors that form addictive habits that are difficult to overcome. I will write (or already wrote) here what I tried to overcome harmful behaviors of overuse. See also this blogpost by Reece on this topic.
In essence: Most of the time I’m just a consumer feeling a negative impact due to the things I consume and how I consume them (passively and for too long). I’ve heard multiple youtube creators say (If I ever find a link I’ll add it here), that the positives only outweigh the negatives because they can be creative and fulfill their passion. If they were only consumers, social media would be a net negative for sure. (I’m paraphrasing). I want to create more and consume less.
Being a creator
Creating is, for me, adding value to the world. Not everyone might perceive it as something valuable. But it has meaning. To me. I like seeing things I made. Being a creator does not necessarily imply to share things online. But as I believe in the things I create, I can only hope that there are people out there who can benefit by my creations. Be it unique ideas, insights and perspectives written by a fellow human like this blog. Or sharing photos, music, 3DModels etc.
If you read this, I hope you appreciate what I create.