I've been seeing various vids talking about this subject in my feed again, so I thought I'd give an update post.
(Need context? You can read my 1st post here and my 1st follow up here. They are my introduction into this topic that I'm following up on.)
It's kinda funny. I'm starting to hear video essayists mention points beat for beat about things I mentioned almost 2 years ago now.
It's interesting to me how quickly things go from novel to cliche. Like everyone is reading off of the same script.
I apologize if any of this sounds like old news or repeating myself. lol
If I had to say what's changed, it's that AI slop has increased. The Dead Internet vibes are getting bigger.
But not all is lost yet.
Hoping this post will stop me from talking about it for awhile. lol
I've been feeling this way for the past few years. Maybe since 2016? Or 2020? It all blends together after awhile.
I don't know if it's always been this way, and I'm simply becoming overwhelmed by the scale and endlessness of it.
But it seems like the internet is like a mechanical fan: it makes a lot of noise but eventually you stop hearing it.
The noise is still there, but you become numb to it.
That is how I feel about it right now. Sleep or awake, online or offline, it'll always be there. Always making noise.
But does it linger?
Will it last? Will any of the words stick? How much of it will be remembered? How much of it will become lost media?
If every day is a panic, what happens when things go off the rails for real?
If every mistake is met with rage, where will the energy be when something crazy happens?
I'm sorry I haven't been able to write a full post about it, but I think of it as the 6th sense of the internet. We feel it, and it weighs on us.
This sense that everyone is talking about everything all the time constantly.
I think this is where the desire to unplug comes from. We don't know why, but we feel so much so fast, and are exhausted by it.
What I mean is, look for what is excessive and not working. Look for the fat or the excess, and start trimming it out.
We don't live forever. Do you really want to give 80% of your life to a feed that only wants you for ad money and sales? What are you getting from it?
I remember reading a wiki page once about a band. The owner of the band got so pissed at the humans in it, they decided to make a fictional band instead. The cartoon characters will never revolt or have their own opinions!
That's how I'm feeling with this AI thing. That the natural next step will be "these human creators are too moody and can burnout too easily, replace them".
An AI can make content 24/7. A human can't. Even with subathons humans still need to eat and sleep.
Right now AI influencers are mostly a novel amusement, but there will come a day they will do things better than humans can.
I wonder how many will continue to create when that time comes.
The thing about being an everyday average small creator is you never know when your time will be up.
You understand you are a tiny fish in a big sea. You're always replaceable.
Everyone wants to create. But there's a limited amount of positions, and a limit on human attention.
I understand I might be replaced someday.
My mantra these days is "I can't control the world, all I can do is continue to do what I'm supposed to do. That's all I can do".
I've been thinking on the topic of human curation.
Find your taste, not the for you taste.
Go outside the box.
In older fandom spaces during the physical media period, people would physically swap and share tapes.
What I mean by this one is, keep talking about the media you like. Even when it's not popular or trendy.
Keep word of mouth going.
Don't let your favorites shrivel up because it's "dead".
Let people know why you enjoy the things you enjoy.
You'd think I would learn by now to stop caring about numbers. It's just numbers.
But nope. Have to learn the lesson over and over again.
Don't aim for peak numbers, aim for peak value.
I think we get caught up in it because that's what everyone talks about.
But the point I keep going back to is, there are things that will never be measured by numbers.
Someone's "You made my day!" cannot be measured in a static value symbol.
A view is just a view. Sometimes it's not even a view. It can be 2 seconds in the corner of your eye. Is that the kind of "view" you want?
I heard someone say recently "You know what retention rate movies have? 100%".
And while it's a bit of an exaggeration, it made me reflect on the Mr.Beast era of YouTube.
I don't buy into the argument that the only thing we can expect from people is 2 seconds on a second screen.
Before starting this blog, I thought long form writing by the internet was "dead". I was constantly told that on social media.
But of course people believe that on social media. Because all they see is what's in front of them, what's trending.
It's not trending to write a basic ass blog. It's not trending to make a website that makes no money.
There's no fame in that, no profit in that.
Don't get me wrong I enjoy the dopamine rush from a win as much as anybody. But I don't want that to be the only thing that gets me going.
Lately I've been thinking what I want to aim for is two ways.
That my viewers feel like "I'm glad I tuned in today". That I feel like "I'm glad I showed up today".
I feel like that is a healthier view to have. Probably.
If I could tell my past self who was afraid of starting, I would say:
I think of the creators who matter to me. Some of them are around, but some of them aren't. Some of them felt like they were nobody. The numbers weren't big, so they felt like no one cared. They stopped showing up. They gave up.
And I think of those people and wonder "Where could they be if they had stayed? What would they be doing now?"
I know it's easy to feel like the world has enough artists. That there is more content to consume than many lifetimes.
But if you're on the fence, know that there are people who care out there. And mostly importantly, give yourself a chance to be happier.
Sometimes I wonder what the point of trying is.
I wish I could say I have all the answers, but I don't.
If I had to give a reason, it's that I want to try and regain what used to come naturally to people.
I used to create my own games and my own ideas before I had access to the internet. I used to look around the web and look through various kinds of media before scrolling.
You can't be creative from squeezing inside a cookie cutter template.
I don't want the 100% right algorithm optimized generic answer anymore.
I'm tired of playing it safe all the time! I'm tired of being told what to do and praying to the algorithm.
So maybe the next step is more divided. Throwing things at the wall and see what sticks.
Getting out of my comfort zone. Trying things that might not work.
Thanks for reading! This will probably be my last post for a bit. I got some projects I need to work on inbetween uploads and streams.
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