Where has all the personality gone?

Something I have found interesting at Steem is my willingness to be open about myself on the blockchain, something that I have not been so willing to do in the analogue world so far. It isn't because of anonymity because, I am not anonymous here and, it isn't because I love to talk about myself either because I tend to avoid that, especially with strangers. The reason I am open is because of, you the community.

What I have found over the years is that even though we are all different in a myriad ways, there are still a great deal of overlap between us and, no matter how far apart we think we are, there is always common ground. What I have found is that speaking about my own experience means that I am able to find common ground with people quickly as, they find me, rather than I search for them.

When I go searching myself, I am looking for people who are able to engage me, which doesn't mean think like me or say what I want to hear. What I find engaging is content that is able to pique my interest in areas that (for me) make me think about something I care about differently. The worst 'good' content on Steemit is the hit and miss content, the stuff that is just information thrown out there randomly which has no real relevancy but, might find a target. A lot of the science genre is like this in my opinion as it is like the teacher saying, "open to chapter so and so and start reading".

If however, content is produced that connects to the real world to increase understanding and curiosity enough to actually start dealing with a challenge personally, it has value in my opinion. Again, there is a lot of content that is about 'world issues' but they do not connect to me as an individual even though it may be interesting.

One of the questions of content I read that I use as a measure of value for me personally is, do I want to write something about this? Too often, the answer is no. I am not saying I will write about it as I have my own process for that which includes but is definitely not exclusive to bouncing content off others but, content needs to make me think enough about it make me want to write. I have the same thing when I look at a work of art.

If I look at a drawing and technically I can do it but more importantly, the idea I would have, I do not evaluate it highly. It is the same for food in a restaurant. If I could make a similar meal, then all the restaurant offers is convenience and whilst that has value, it doesn't have a lot in my opinion. I want to be able to look at, eat and read things that, I can't do myself and, I could spin a textbook if forced.

But, a spun textbook or internet search could be considered good content when it is coupled with the personal views of the author as then the information is more likely to connect with me as an individual also. The problem I find is that for the most part, people aren't very interesting even if they think that they are. This means that they don't tend to have a lot of themselves to offer as compelling content and therefore, there is a lack of engagement.

I don't think people at a general level realise how uninteresting the average personality is becoming as the entire globe seems to be shifting away from experiencing the world and into a consumptive cycle. Even the IRL experiences one may have are engineered and lived as a consumer of it, not a participant. people might do a lot but at the end of the day, what they do and they way they tell it is similar across the spectrum. There is low presentation diversity.

Again, I am not talking about the technical details of presentation although that on average can really do with some work here, I am speaking of the personality that comes through in the presentation. So much of what I have read is so devoid of human, it is like reading content generated by a low level AI. It tells the details of the story but, doesn't give the imagery needed to connect it at a personal level. To me at least, it feels formulaic, engineered, cold and impersonal. Boring.

Of course, I can only speak from my perspective but when there is an identifiable pattern involved in the writing, it feels like there is a basic level form being used to create the content and, that is not the ind of thing that engages users, at least in the long-term.

I think this is part of the reason why people who are anonymous (meaning they add nothing personal) often struggle for engagement as they do not come across as relatable, authentic, human. This doesn't mean that everyone has to identify themselves though as what I mean by this is that when one adds personal views, they become a target for engagement. Many avoid this because they also become a target for criticism, which most people fear.

My approach to my content is not random even though the topics are varied as it is content that for whatever reason, is important to me at the time and, my views about it. Rarely do I present something that I don't actually find interesting and, rarely (if ever) do I present information that is just filler to become a post. The people that have to have filler content must really live a very boring life that generates no thought or, be very uncreative to not be able to turn it into something somewhat interesting. A consumer society generally lives in both of those realms.

The more we consume from the creations of others, the less we create and, the less we create, the less we are able or likely to create. What happens is that we end up in a position where we are unable to create for ourselves and the only thing we are good at is consuming the creations of others. It is a skill to be able to Google well but, it doesn't make one creative.

Too many people rely on the internet, quotes from movies or popular movies to be funny and, too many rely on social media to be their crutch of actually socializing. People sit around coffee tables telling those they are with about internet posts they have made or read as if it is a valuable experience when all it is, is filler for people with lacking personalities.

I read too many posts that are well researched topics but, it is like going to a coffee shop with a stranger who only talks through Wikipedia articles and links. This is by no means the only content on Steem and there are some very, very interesting creatives here but, there definitely is a lot of ... blah.

Where has all the personality gone from the world?

It is interesting that when it comes to what can be highly rewarded, there isn't actually much more there than filler that doesn't fill the needs of the readers to actually care. But, the value of something here is what the payout says it is worth... right?

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]