I wish that I had the habit of screenshotting the news headlines to illustrate the multiple personality disorder that there apparently is, where one day it is "crypto is the future", the next it is, "what a scam" and then a day later, "How you can get into crypto today!". While this is manipulation of the reader base, it isn't to get them to necessarily buy or sell crypto, it is for clicks - just more clickbait headlines to attract attention and drive Time on Site numbers and generate advertising revenue.
It doesn't matter what the headline is, because people are generally polarized in the views, it pulls the attention of both sides. With every "Crypto sky is falling post", crypto people are going to be attracted based on their own experience and knowledge, often to disagree or justify what is said in the article. Negative No-coiners are also attracted to it as while they have no monetary skin in the game, based on their knowledge and experience, they want to show how stupid crypto people are and use the articles published in mainstream media as their ammunition, regardless of how flawed they may be.
Once upon a time, news was a service that was valuable because it was able to gather and disseminate information across an audience of individuals that couldn't get this information for themselves. However, due to the success of the format and the ability to direct thought and activity, it quickly moved from service to a product packaged for the sale of ideas, with those ideas (or ideals) being driven by the highest bidder. The "service" of it isn't for the audience and consumer, it is for the paying broadcaster and the product they are buying, is our attention.
While we often focus on time as the most precious resource we have, it is not actually the case. It is our attention that has the value as no matter how much time we have available to us, if we aren't paying attention to how we use it, we are going to waste the potential we have.
I was talking with a client about this the other day in regards to how we entertain ourselves, where I was saying that when I was a kid, my parents were often too busy to do a lot of things. But, while they were busy, they didn't watch television often, nor read magazines or the newspaper - they were always busy doing something. My dad was an artist and he would often be found painting, my mother would often be found sitting at a sewing machine, making curtains for our windows or costumes for my sister's ballet events. There were obviously other things too, but they never really seemed to be sitting around as consumers, yet they never seemed to be looking for something to do.
the other day I was thinking more about this, as I was clicking across some DeFi yield platforms to have a look at how they were performing, as well as some exchanges for the same reason. What I realized is that while I felt like I was doing something useful, a lot of the time I was spending on these things wasn't doing anything much at all and I was spending far too much time just consuming the pages for no return.
It is an interesting thing to consider as at least for the yield platforms, it is meant to be relatively passive income, but the time spent with our attention on them, comes with an opportunity cost. For example, I have heard about people (and been like this at times too) where the markets are going up and they spend time refreshing their balances to see what the gains are, but not actually acting on the information. It can be different for a trader, but they wouldn't be looking at total balances, they would be looking at the individual assets, I assume. What I was thinking is whether it is the "best way" to spend time, which means weighing up the cost in reference to other available opportunities.
In some ways, it is much like the suggestion to turn off notifications or check emails once or twice a day, instead of getting notifications as they arrive. The reason it is suggested concerns our attention, or more accurately, the breaking of attention that the notifications force. We end up having our focus interrupted and then split across multiple targets, with us unable to fully utilize our time well, to take advantage of the resources we have.
I believe that it is partly because of this splitting of attention that we have become less creative, combined with much of the focus of our attention being driven to consume content that doesn't inspire us to create. Not only that, the content we consume "steals" time from us as we consume it in various ways too, including diminishing our ability to complete tasks effectively and efficiently. Even the act of consumption itself is poorly performed, which is why so many of us tend to read or skim only parts of articles, which I think is by design, through an inundation of content, most of it very low value.
It is a funny thing, as while the original premise for the news media was to bring "new" information to the audience, it has largely become a place of echo-chambering, where we consume to confirm our beliefs. Social media doubles down on this, as we are ale to take our confirmation bias and share it with others, as evidence that we are right in our beliefs. This then sets up for social polarization and argument, which drives more activity, clicks and shares and based on the drama, the news media will create stories that polarize us further, as well as segment us more precisely to sell our attention to their customers - the advertisers pushing their ideals of the products and thoughts they want us to buy.
The saying is, "if you aren't paying for it, you are the product" but this is only half the story, as even when we are paying for it, we are also the product, as we buy and consume goods and services and then promote them in our feeds to grab the attention of other consumers. We are the vehicles the media drives, fleet cars that work to give them clicks free, so they can make money for nothing.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
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There have been countless times that I have been sitting around surfing on the Internet and I suddenly stop and look at my wife and say "There is nothing to do on the Internet". How crazy is that. With the world basically at my fingertips I often find myself saying there is absolutely nothing of value for me on the Internet at this moment. I totally get what you are saying because I have been there many times.
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It is crazy and I watch many people (I do occasionally also) just sit and scroll through feeds, no enjoyment on their face, no interest, just seemingly out of habit.
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Ah yes, I have seen that too!
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Nice play on words! I love Dire Straits!!
I now have it in my head. The last month, the neighbours across the tracks have been playing this super loud, on repeat, for hours on a Saturday. My husband hates it, but I've always liked Dire Straits.
Ha ha. At least it's a good song. Nothing worse than getting a terrible song stuck in your head! Well, except maybe a neighbour blasting terrible tunes!! 🤣🤣
Well am glad I went through this post and thanks for the awareness, nicely written @tarazkp
The internet ads now day are crazy too. You Won't Believe How She Looks Now - which leads to an endless slideshow with maybe the person you wanted to see on page 90, all the while hitting you with tons of adds.
I stay away from that nonsense - but I know many who have been raised with it who are still clicking along. It is like citical thought has been removed from society.
A few years ago, a friend was telling me how his 15 year old son watches ads for products on YouTube and instagram. When I was a kid, the ads were the tim you go and grab some feed or go to the bathroom and people would complain about too many adverts.
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I know you are right about creativity suffering as attention is not focused. Goethe, Beethoven, and Tesla were not checking facebook every 5 minutes, for sure. Same for Newton, Einstein...
And now you know what song is stuck in my head for the day. !BEER
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I think, "better things to do" would explain the difference in outcomes for many people. I know some highly intelligent people who spend their time consuming nothing, creating nothing.
I wonder how many younger would get the reference without hearing the song?
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Great post as always. I just found it ironic how you are preaching about echo chambers as an echo in my chamber 😀
I feel honored to get a comment ;D
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And how to avoid to being just their vehicle for attention and free traffic? After all, we need some products and services?
We do need products and services - but for the most part, we know what we need. Why surround ourselves with a thousand brochures of products we don't need?
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Yes, I totally agree with you, but I come from a former socialist country and I remember the times when I only had one kind of product, for example, I could buy a radio but I couldn't choose what kind ... well, now it's a totally different situation, I have to agree there too, now when I look at something I'm being followed on the big social networks and I'm being offered thousands of pieces of shit ... it's getting quite annoying ... I think we need to find some balance ...
Yep, you were raised at the other extreme, which is obviously not great either. Balance is what is required.
The thing with advertising is they try to make whatever they are selling seem like we need it, but it isn't the case. For me personally, I try to pay attention to what is actually important to me first and when something is "suggested" I cross-reference to see if it is something that satisfies my needs/likes, or of it is just something that I would buy and a short time after say, "what was I thinking? I don't need this."
I'm trying to do the same, I'm trying to get better informed, I used to read a lot of forums for different things and go into total detail, lose hours and hours, but then I realized that most of the time things don't really offer what their advertisers offer, so now I'm most sceptical about everything ...
Media work these days is getting tougher. They have to keep up with what gets people's attention always. Naturally, bad news sells, but sometimes, people have gotten so accustomed to bad news they no longer care.
These days, they find what trends and try to force you to give a damn. That's why it's one story today and another tomorrow. Their BS has to be consistent. Whichever side of the table to stand, they will get to you.
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I think even more than bad news, celebrity sells. People know what is happening with famous people, but don't have much of an idea about what actually influences them daily, or what they can actually influence.
Best to stay clear of the news, or be very skeptical of the source.
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Hello @tarazkp ,greetings from Venezuela.Very interesting article. I agree with all your approach, we live so saturated with "information" that every day we are more uninformed and apparently keeping us ignorant is part of the business. Have you considered translating this post into Spanish? I think it is an important reflection to spread. Bay.
No, as I don't speak Spanish.
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:D
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BEER.I totally get this and can relate . As the saying goes, activity should not be equated with progress
Yeh, yeh, yeeh! Advertising, advertisers...
So true.
And it's mostly subconscious talking.
Haha it's kinda triggering when I go to bed and self reflect on what I've done and how efficient I was that day.
Despite spending at least 8h daily, it feels like I could have done it in 4h.
Like fuck, maybe I smoke too much 🤣
Time to make a daily schedule, lol.
Not only we give away our free time for media and companies to deliver us their product, but also we have to work more and more to cover for all that consumption.
Our most precious assets are being sold at a discount, those you shouldn't be able to put a price on: Our time and our freedom.
I've been thinking about this alot lately. Although HIVE has made me inspired many times to create, I'm at this point where I'm longing for the whole internet to collapse lol and go back to the '90s.
I'm noticing that in the kids I teach - they can't sustain their reading at all.
I've been switching off a lot and going back to reading. I find it harder to read these days - my attention span is shot because the attention media has made it so. It takes a bit of effort to stick at it, but once I'm in the flow, I'm back to reading a few chapters at a time and enjoying it again. From a once avid reader, I'm a bit shocked that I've allowed the internet to steal my attention so much.