💾 Archived View for altesq.net › ~evenfire › posts › 2022-08-04.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 03:29:05. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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Micro-blogs, character limits and similar enforced behavior by modern platforms are not good for self expression or development of thought. Created specifically for short attention spans, they are the best at stimulating dopamine hits while providing the reader with no worth while information whatsoever.
Writing much like thinking, but on paper (or an electronic device in this case). You have to organize ideas, see that they are understandable by everyone, while providing a coherent post which is worth a reader's time.
Although not nefarious in its original scope, micro-blogs were quickly adopted by the modern platforms to be quickly integrated and monetized. The original intent was to have a stream of consciousness, although, by encouraging users to create quick posts, people quickly found out that some topics were favored more than others by the algorithm of the specific platform. Thus, this led to people faking their posts for attention, combined with the other common features of modern day platforms.
There was a second devastating effect, the destruction of attention spans. Although this is not because of micro-blogging, but by other external factors that were present at the same time, micro-blogging facilitated a medium for communication while not needing to pay attention to what you say, or others for that matter, while the traditional blog went extinct. When's the last time someone had a good revelation while micro-blogging?
Luckily, there are still blogs in corners of the internet, such as Gemini. Blogs encourage thinking before-hand, including the development of a specific notion, while engaging in often healthy discussion. People can present fully-fledged ideas, instead of 280 characters of gibberish. While this necessitates much more focus from the reader, it helps you understand a subject better, while possibly growing as a person. Blogs were never favored by algorithms because they were not able to be quickly
monetized and to be quick dopamine hits, this leading to their demise. Although there are a few exceptions to this rule, for example Medium. Anyone who has ever touched Medium knows how horrid and awfully bloated that website is.
Micro-blogging also promotes the idea of heavily multi-tasking between thoughts, not continuing any thought coherently, which results in not being able to create proper arguments to sustain an idea and a damaged attention span in general, which benefits advertisers, showing as many ads as they can.
We have determined that we’ll be able to fill 80% of the user’s display with advertising before inducing seizures. - Ready Player One
I encourage people to begin developing and thinking out ideas, instead of forcing their minds to think in 280 characters or less. A new era full of blogs would contribute to everyone's knowledge and enjoyment of their time on the internet.