Betterment through the gates of home

We often talk about the value of content here but rarely actually consider it from our own perspective. Value is subjective and like beauty, it is in the eye of the beholder which means, it is based on wants and desires. For me personally, value of content comes through its ability to provide me something usable, not just something interesting but, that is me.

Usable is in itself difficult to gauge because there is different forms of use with some being practical in nature while others are more thought based. Essentially though, value of content itself is positioned to provide ideas that we can leverage to make changes that improve our lives but again, this is tricky. What is improvement, is it a practical change that builds skill or is it a chance to unwind at the end of the day?

For the most part and in my opinion, we as a society have access to an abundance of leisure content and the ease with which we can consume it and the feeling it provides makes it a very compelling genre. I would say that for the most part these days, the majority of our consumption time is spent feeding our wants to be entertained, even if it comes at the high opportunity cost of neglecting other forms of constructive consumption.

We are eaters after all and what we eat becomes a part of us. Just like low-nutritional value food is going to lead us into ill health and disease in various forms, low quality content consumption is going to affect us similarly as we are not feeding the mind what helps it expand. People talk about being "woke" as if it is some trend term, while they spend their time consuming mainstream media, games and cultural thoughts catering to those who are far from awake.

I often wonder when considering the posts of others what they value in their lives as their content offers little that provokes though, few ideas that could be considered and acted upon, low-hanging psychological fruit. It can be entertaining of course and there is a space for a fair bit of it but, how long can it last? If an account is unable to offer more than entertainment value, how long until it becomes stale, the viewers bored and the next sparkly thing attracts their attention?

I can only ever talk from my perspective as that is all I can really have a chance of knowing and this is why I write as I do. Looks fade with age but, thoughts can run on and inspire action eternally, my own included. When I write, first and foremost it has to provide value to me. What I mean by this is that it has to provoke thoughts, emotions and considerations that lead to an improvement in my own position. If I can't benefit from my own content, it is a non-starter.

The first filter for value is through my own eye and experiences and I use my writing as a personal discovery of my world. We each have our own world but of course, there is a massive amount of overlapping points that connect us much more than the differences that separate. This is likely why some people will connect at various levels because they too know what I am talking about in some way or at least, feel that they do. Reflective value, they see themselves through my content.

Be the change is so important not because it will change the world, but because it will change ourselves to become what we want the world to be, to live our own truth and improve our world. The physical world might not change much at all but our own experience of it and the only part we can control, ourselves, can change drastically. I see so many suffering in various ways who believe it is because of others.

However, how can we get reflective value that helps us be improved when the majority of what we consume encourages passivity, absorption of attention without returning resources we can use to construct? In many ways, entertainment content has become a vampire that leeches at the blood of our potential while we sit and offer our neck willingly.

Again, there is space for leisure and definitely for relaxation but over-consumption leads to poor health and a lack of what is necessary to provide us meaning. You don't have to agree with me, your life is your own but, if you are not experiencing the world in a way that you are fulfilled by, it is not because of me or anyone else, that is on you.

There is this idea about the Pursuit of happiness and I actually think that it is a decent saying. The problem with it is that people tend to emphasize the "Happiness" of it and think that is what is important, it is not. The operative word is "Pursuit" and it is in that chase of fulfillment that happiness is found, not the destination. The journey.

When we consume we are making a choice about which paths we take on the road and by default, where we are likely to be led. The decisions we make are either going to be constructive, destructive or stationary, with stationary generally leading to loss as the environment changes. Are we building ourselves up or tearing ourselves down one brick at a time, are we discovering and creating opportunity or letting them pass us by? Are we okay with where we are?

I can't answer any of this for anyone but the value of my content is that I use it as a pathway to answer some of these questions in myself and perhaps, offer some ideas for others to leverage for themselves. It might not even be a direct line, it could just be a mini spark of thought that leads to somewhere else, a small part of a much larger and grander discussion and movement.

While we talk about value and the rewards associated with content, how many of us truly take a step back and question the value of our own offerings. Would we ourselves use that content if delivered from another source, would we reward it? Do we actually believe that when we hit the post button it has any value at all or, do we just hope that it will earn something?

It is difficult at times when we see content that we believe is low-value get rewarded heavily but, we shouldn't let it affect us, other than as a reflective source about what we ourselves choose to create. We need not compare ourselves though, we just have to be at peace with what we do in this world, rewarded or not. We each have to live our own experience and for me, a journey toward what I consider betterment is more fulfilling than one of mere reward for actions performed.

The first and likely the most personally important Proof of Brain filter is, what we ourselves consider valuable to deliver to an audience. It doesn't mean the audience will agree.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]