A little personality, please.

Last night I was reading a personal post by @clio which reminded me to write this post. I have wanted to mention this for a while but just haven't got around to it as there is always something else running through my head.

As I mentioned to @clio last night, it is nice to get views of people's personal lives as it gives perspective on our world and each other. I am much more interested in the content of people I 'know' than the people who never offer anything of themselves. I think it is partly because this is social media, not a university forum.

So much information presented here is rehashed, spun, reformulated work from news articles, textbooks and other websites that I do not put a lot of faith in the people who write or upvote it. When people are unwilling to give anything of themselves alongside that information, it sets off warning bells in my head to say, this person is not above board in some way.

But, when people put themselves into their content it makes me at least consider that they have actually invested time, effort and more importantly, their own thoughts into it. Own thoughts is an important factor for me to have a decent discussion with someone, and when I get the feeling I am getting regurgitated textbook answers, I tune out very quickly. I get that feeling a lot here.

There seems to be many people who act very clever online but, how clever are they once they lose google? For me personally, I am not much of a Google-relier as I have to spend my IRL time in front of people talking about real world things that are technically outside of my area. This means, think fast, adjust often, listen a lot. The other reason is that to rely on the search engine crutch may increase knowledge but, I would posit it decreases the ability to actually use that knowledge due to it being a competitive cognitive artefact.

But, back to personality. I am not saying that I need your street address or even a picture of your face but I do think it is useful to get an understanding of who you are and how you think. It is interesting to get your opinions on the things you enjoy and the challenges you face, your experiences in this world and what you may want the world to become. Just sometimes.

There is something about commitment tied into this where those who give something of themselves to their content are more committed to their content. For me, it is much more engaging to read someone who is passionate about what they do over someone who is trying to only present 'correct' information.

You'd think that correct information should be a goal but in my experience, it is actually a hindrance as correct information is always past based and if they haven't got the ability to think further than what they already know to be correct, they are largely useless to the future. It also makes for very bland conversation and content.

I don't know why so many people feel the need to hide themselves away here (not talking about IRL identity) and only offer mundane views of the world that I can likely pick up from any other site freely. This is another thing people need to think about as they rehash content as Steemit is a Blogging site, not a reblogging site. This place shouldn't resemble Tumblr in any way. Yet, it does.

As I scroll through the feeds I see content of the moment rehashed from other sites without so much as even a personal opinion on it. Me being harsh would say that it should not get a vote at all from anyone. Yet, some are among the highest rewarded on the platform.

I know there are some very clever people on this platform but if they are unwilling to actually give their view on the world, how useful are they to solving the problems we face? How can they help people think differently if all they offer up is the same drivel every other site already contains?

I am hoping that Steemit would be the place where real people can interact with real people but currently it is looking a lot more like a current affairs drivel aggregator than a social site full of bright people. Maybe that is why so many hide their opinions though, perhaps they don't really have any of their own as they have spent too long consuming the ideas of others that they have lost the ability to think for themselves.

The platform is quiet and there is plenty of time for me to find some interesting content... Still looking. If you come across some (from other people) link it in the comments section and I will take a look.

Hmm, rant?

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]