For the last several evenings a thought burrowed away at the back of my mind – that I hadn’t written anything in the blog recently, and that I didn’t really have anything to share. In the past I wouldn’t have let that stop me.
I had a conversation with my eldest daughter in the week – about her potentially starting an online diary to chart her internal battles with anxiety and depression – to empty her head. She asked what she might write about when she has nothing to write about – how to deal with the pressure of having to write something. I recalled a poster I once saw on the internet:
“I have nothing to say, and I’m saying it”.
The conversation went round in circles, but ended on the thought that what we share doesn’t have to be for others. It can be for ourselves. People are not forced to read anything we share – but they may choose to – just as we may choose to read what others share.
Given that politics is dominating the news at the moment, I can’t help feeling frustration with those polluting social networks with instructions of who to vote for and why. I find myself questioning just how myopic many people are – how conceited they are in presuming that everybody else shares their thoughts, values and concerns.
I wanted to reply to each and every post that people should make their own mind up based on their own concerns, and vote the way they wish to without either telling anybody or trying to influence others.
I wonder what it is that causes people to form groups? I’ve never read anything about psychology and sociology – but the whole “collectivism versus individuality” thing interests me. Why do some people feel the need to be part of something? To search out other like-minded folk and advertise their associations? Am I the only one that sees the short step from advertising one opinion to belittling another?
I saw a picture of Ricky Gervais yesterday – taken from an interview where he was being questioned on his lack of faith or belief in a “creator”. His reaction went along the lines of “there are however-many thousand gods believed in by billions of people throughout the planet – who each believe theirs is the truth – but you’re saying that only yours is the true one”.
It’s not just religion.
I got called an “influencer” the other day, because of the YouTube channel. I’ve never been called it before. At first I wasn’t happy with the label, but then I received a wonderful email from somebody that changed my persective. He thanked me for keeping the content I share focused on a given subject – without misdirection, click-bait titles, and marketing gimmickery. He thanked me for remaining transparent, honest, humble, and never pretending to be anything I am not.
If my “influence” is to be yourself in the face of an army of others telling you what to believe, what to think, how to look, how to act, what to be interested in, what to be concerned about, and whatever else, then I’m more than happy with that.
While walking into town with my youngest daughter yesterday somehow the topic turned around to the money I make from YouTube, and how she might do the same in her spare time. I tried to impress upon her that the most valuable commodity she has is who she is – and to protect that at all costs. I tried to explain that traction online is a byproduct of generating content that is interesting, entertaining or educational to somebody – and that being consistent, trustworthy, and transparent about who you are is everything. After a while people don’t seek you for the content – they find you for you – because they want to know what you think, or what you’re doing.
Given her recent relationships – learning the hard way about trust, veracity, influence, and manipulation, I hope the penny dropped.
We talked about the army of identities out there on the internet that consist of names and numbers. While many of them are the result of marketing morons pouring vast swathes of fake identities into the melting pot, a lot of them are also the worst of us – those that have been repeatedly banned and blocked – pedalling hate, taking advantage of the vulnerable, and trying to influence the easily led.
Anyway.
This turned into a bit of a brain dump, didn’t it.
I’ll finish the post with my closing thoughts to my daughter yesterday:
“Be yourself, and try not to be what other people want you to be. If you’re not happy or proud about what you’re doing, who you’re with, or what they’re asking you to do, maybe take a step back and ask yourself why you’re there at all”.