I sometimes ask myself this question.

There are a few things to take into consideration when trying to decipher the motivation behind why we spend time here.
There are a few points of view that i think we should take into account.

1. Monetary aspect:

This is the first and primary thing we look at living in the times we do. Many of us, me included, arrived here because we thought this was a fair way of earning some crypto without having to spend thousands of dollars on buying something like Bitcoin.
At the time i found out about STEEM, Bitcoin was reaching 20 000 USD and i thought to myself, as a layman i was:

Damn, i dont have that kind of cash to throw into some speculative asset that might go bust in a week.

So i came here. The earning aspect of STEEM attracted me here... I did a few things, earned some STEEM and even bought a few thousand euros worth after a few months.
But if im being honest my investment wasnt something that warranted me investing so much time i did into this platform.

If you put into perspective the payouts, majority of STEEM users receive, its barely a dollars worth. 1 measly dollar for a post that might take you an hour to write.
The minimum wage in US is $7,25 per hour.... You can clean toilets and wash dishes for more money per hour then you earn from posting here... and then invest into it into crypto.

I have powered up around 3000 SP and my curation return wont pass 5 SP a week ($2).

So clearly, if you arent a whale and you are here only to make money, your time spent here is basically wasted from a monetary perspective.

2. Its the community!

If you look at any other social media site you will see people posting content for the hell of it. Its fun, you get comments, you get likes, you get "acceptance" and you "feel good" for doing so. Sure, you lie a bit about your life, you take pictures in a wax museum and say you actually met Arnold Schwarzenegger, you take selfies from of your "good side", take pictures of yourself eating lettuce and Brussels sprouts while thinking about stuffing your face with Big Macs afterwards...
I guess you could say its a similar thing here.... Until you get flagged by @berniesanders, haha.
Im kidding.. But no...Its really not the same thing here.
STEEM is a different beast completely.

I listened to @aggroed talk on his forum today with Ned and there is something he said that kind of made me think about how i actually felt about this place. There is something he said a few times that stuck with me.

This is my home.

That got me thinking.

Home? Really?

While @ned was stringing along on his guitar during the forum and @fyrstikken was speaking loudly into his microphone i faded that all out and thought about those words.
Sure... New Years just went by and Lord of the rings was all over the TV, the same Shire-folk sentiment left over, i kind of felt that there might be something there.

Ive written a post a month back about STEEM having a potential to build a proper society around it. Completing every single requirement for such a thing.
All that came together and made me realize that, really, we are like a big family here.
You have your douchebags, your black sheep, your strange uncles and oldtimers, your jesters and strict teachers, and the kids running around trying to make sense of things.

We had all those things that we only find in real life. But rarely on the "internets".

My point is that most of us will never strike rich here. The monetary aspect being superficial.. After months of writing articles and comments we might earn enough to take someone to a nice meal in a restaurant. Thats about it.

But what we can get from STEEM is a sense of community, an opportunity to be a part of something that doesnt really exist anywhere else. But only if we dont dwell on drama and insignificant conflicts.
Something new, something unique. And even if STEEM does fail you will look back at your time spent here with a smile. You will remember your time FUDing because @ned likes to hide in the closet under the stairs, you will remember @dlive pulling their crap, youll remember the time @haejin flagged you and giggle....

Life is about experiences and spending your time on the STEEM blockchain, whatever comes of it, will be something you will remember.

.
.
.
.

I usually dont do posts like this but..... whatever.... Waiting on my reward cards anyways. :P

Keep on STEEMING. ;)