It is often said that comparison is the thief of joy.
I think this same principle can be applied to the pursuit of attention, especially in the context of social media.
As highlighted superbly by Cal Newport in his 2019 book Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focussed Life in a Noisy World, the social media giants have invested and continue to invest billions of dollars, to capture and retain your attention.
If left unchecked, this can have a negative impact on your productivity and mental health. This was the subject of a previous article about Embracing Digital Minimalism.
Whilst inspired by the philosophy of digital minimalism, this article is focussed on the perils of attention-seeking, in the digital age.
I often hear the digital marketing gurus proclaim that you need to establish and religiously stick to a content creation and distribution schedule, in order to satisfy platform algorithms and build your following.
Whilst this may be an effective strategy, I think it has some major flaws.
Firstly, by taking this approach, you are doing what everyone else is doing and indulging in a shouting match with millions of other people. Nowadays, it seems there are no lengths, to which people won't reach, in order to capture people's attention. It all feels horribly spammy and disingenuous to me. Do you really want to engage in this toxic race to the bottom?
Also, I think there is a fundamental problem with the notion of capturing people's attention. At what point did people stop trying to earn people's attention, by taking the time to compose well researched and reasoned arguments?
We're confronted with a sad state of affairs and it's time we all take a moment to pause, reflect and consider how we can break free from these bad habits and get back to doing things properly.
In my opinion, our goal should not be to create a sensational image or video (perhaps unceremoniously generated by AI), which has a sufficiently high shock factor, to immediately capture people's attention.
Instead, we should invest the time and effort necessary, to mould innovative ideas, into a format, which our fellow human beings find engaging, thought provoking and dare I say it .... inspiring.
Personally, I consider the process of sharing thoughts in writing, to be unequalled by any other medium.
Whilst I love listening to podcasts and watching videos, I feel that writing provides the best mechanism for clarifying, sharpening and distilling early-stage ideas, into well reasoned and robust arguments, which hold up under scrutiny and stand the test of time.
So, in many respects, the act of writing, is a selfish one, in so far as it helps us to coax out and give form to our own ideas.
With that being said, it can also be a very selfless exercise, as it is a fantastic way of sharing our knowledge and experience with others, so they can save time and energy when navigating a path that we have already navigated.
To my mind, the best way to learn, is to write things down, as it highlights our knowledge gaps and forces us to clarify our own understanding of any particular issue.
Synonymously, the best way to learn, is to teach. By capturing our own thoughts and ideas, in writing, we are thus empowered to share them with the world at large and de facto, become teachers.
So, it is at this point that I want to ask you a question.
Which is more valuable, writing to learn or writing to capture people's attention?
One may well be a by-product of the other but which is more valuable, in the first instance?
Surely, our higher purpose, when expressing our thoughts and ideas, in writing, is primarily to learn and by extension, to teach.
With this principle in mind, I would encourage you to ignore all the social media counters and write purely for your own benefit and enjoyment.
Do it simply for the joy it brings.
Forget about everything and everyone else.
By a convenient stroke of paradox, taking this approach will, in all probability, lead to you earning and retaining the attention of far more people.
Now that's a win / win if ever I saw one!
I think this same principle can be applied to the pursuit of attention, especially in the context of social media.
As highlighted superbly by Cal Newport in his 2019 book Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focussed Life in a Noisy World, the social media giants have invested and continue to invest billions of dollars, to capture and retain your attention.
If left unchecked, this can have a negative impact on your productivity and mental health. This was the subject of a previous article about Embracing Digital Minimalism.
Whilst inspired by the philosophy of digital minimalism, this article is focussed on the perils of attention-seeking, in the digital age.
I often hear the digital marketing gurus proclaim that you need to establish and religiously stick to a content creation and distribution schedule, in order to satisfy platform algorithms and build your following.
Whilst this may be an effective strategy, I think it has some major flaws.
Firstly, by taking this approach, you are doing what everyone else is doing and indulging in a shouting match with millions of other people. Nowadays, it seems there are no lengths, to which people won't reach, in order to capture people's attention. It all feels horribly spammy and disingenuous to me. Do you really want to engage in this toxic race to the bottom?
Also, I think there is a fundamental problem with the notion of capturing people's attention. At what point did people stop trying to earn people's attention, by taking the time to compose well researched and reasoned arguments?
We're confronted with a sad state of affairs and it's time we all take a moment to pause, reflect and consider how we can break free from these bad habits and get back to doing things properly.
In my opinion, our goal should not be to create a sensational image or video (perhaps unceremoniously generated by AI), which has a sufficiently high shock factor, to immediately capture people's attention.
Instead, we should invest the time and effort necessary, to mould innovative ideas, into a format, which our fellow human beings find engaging, thought provoking and dare I say it .... inspiring.
Personally, I consider the process of sharing thoughts in writing, to be unequalled by any other medium.
Whilst I love listening to podcasts and watching videos, I feel that writing provides the best mechanism for clarifying, sharpening and distilling early-stage ideas, into well reasoned and robust arguments, which hold up under scrutiny and stand the test of time.
So, in many respects, the act of writing, is a selfish one, in so far as it helps us to coax out and give form to our own ideas.
With that being said, it can also be a very selfless exercise, as it is a fantastic way of sharing our knowledge and experience with others, so they can save time and energy when navigating a path that we have already navigated.
To my mind, the best way to learn, is to write things down, as it highlights our knowledge gaps and forces us to clarify our own understanding of any particular issue.
Synonymously, the best way to learn, is to teach. By capturing our own thoughts and ideas, in writing, we are thus empowered to share them with the world at large and de facto, become teachers.
So, it is at this point that I want to ask you a question.
Which is more valuable, writing to learn or writing to capture people's attention?
One may well be a by-product of the other but which is more valuable, in the first instance?
Surely, our higher purpose, when expressing our thoughts and ideas, in writing, is primarily to learn and by extension, to teach.
With this principle in mind, I would encourage you to ignore all the social media counters and write purely for your own benefit and enjoyment.
Do it simply for the joy it brings.
Forget about everything and everyone else.
By a convenient stroke of paradox, taking this approach will, in all probability, lead to you earning and retaining the attention of far more people.
Now that's a win / win if ever I saw one!