💾 Archived View for jsreed5.org › log › 2021 › 202112 › 20211218-writing-for-myself.gmi captured on 2022-04-29 at 12:27:37. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2022-01-08)
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I've been working on another mathematics article this week, which has taken up much of my spare time. As a result, I haven't been posting very much on my log.
I found myself worrying about that fact last night and this morning. I see many people on Antenna who share writings on their capsules regularly, sometimes several times a day. On the other hand, I tend to add posts on my log only a few times a week. Will my posts even be visible in a prodigious flow of content like Antenna? If so, would anyone be interested in reading it?
This isn't a healthy mindset for me. A desire to post regularly stems from a desire for other people to want to read those posts regularly. At that point I'm no longer writing for myself--I'm writing for those readers. I'm not sharing my honest thoughts or gathering my daily activities into a personal repository. I'm trying to garner attention and seek validation through some form of audience interaction.
Wanting people to read what I write isn't a bad thing, nor is it unfitting for Gemini. If I wanted my log to be private, I could just write in a notebook or a text file. But I shouldn't make myself write for other people if there's a period of time where I don't feel like it.
I also shouldn't judge the value of what I do write based on how many people read it. That's exactly the kind of pressure social media places on its users, and it's a big reason why I left social media to begin with.
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[Last updated: 2021-12-18]