Shots fired! Shots fired! (But in no general direction.)
This is not intended for anyone in particular so before you click away in triggered disdain, consider reading on... Or not. It's your life afterall!
In my opinion, one of the most worrisome aspects of social media is the narcissistic tendencies it can bring out in people. Here is a word of encouragement.
Your following ratio has no bearing on the heart of your message
We live in a world which emphasizes appearances and perceptions is often prioritized over truth. Fake until you make it is a symptom of this proclivity.
There are scores of Instagram influences that try to convey the illusion of an affluent materialistic lifestyle they do not, in reality, possess but as long as they can fabricate the appearance of success it will draw in those seeking the same.
Source
AwakenWithJP droppin' that knowledge!
Check his YouTube. Some hilarious parody of narcissistic "spirituality" among other things.
https://www.youtube.com/user/AwakenWithJP
Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
It is a given that all of our days are numbered and thus we are limited in the people for whom we can connect. Notwithstanding the desire to prune one's news fee which can easily be done with an alt account, I don't see why people maintain such narrow following numbers other than to suggest to others "I am important".
This may ruffle some feathers or rattle some egos but that's the intent in part. Sometimes one must bust up the rocks before planting the seed but really my goal is to perhaps stir you to think about social media differently than we have learned from our culture.
It is time we flip the attention centric model on it's head.
Attention is a finite resource on these types and, as scarcity would dictate, people will compete for whatever they can. This leads to myriad problems.
Snark, sharks and a lotta barks
The zero sum game of relative popularity is a bane to being humble, compassionate and connecting with others. Perhaps, we ought not to play ball but instead build deeper connections and work to elevate each other rather than self. To facilitate that, I do believe I will start an initiative to bolster the spirit of being humble on-chain.
How will I do this?
I am no stranger to using bots. The idea will be to create a follow bot that we may use to follow users that participate in the community that we will create and likewise they may use to follow back fostering a spirit of mutual reciprocity.
It's difficult to grow when you do so alone.
Think of it akin to companion planting which is the practice of growing plants together with complementary characteristics such as pest repelling ability. For example, carrots and onions are one such example.
Carrots should be planted near onions because onions will repel the carrot fly. Onions will also chase away the aphids, so plant them near aphid-prone (but onion-friendly) veggies.
How does that relate?
- Complementary generosity of limited attention.
- Complementary synergism of skills and talents
- Some with complementary appreciation and application of moderation / negative curation. To repel the figurative weeds and pests. @hive-dr (formerly @steemflagrewards) could play a role in that!
A few other ways you can help the positive vibe!
Use GINAbot to set post notifications on others who demonstrated the spirit of mutual reciprocity and focus on manual curation. Learn more
Subscribe and curate BlackSheepBloggers and other inclusive, non-cliqueish communities. /trending/hive-122683
Lastly, I know this was in part a shots fired post (in no general direction as stated) but realistically, if you were one of generally narcissistic tendencies that changed upon this, chances are you may already be entrenched in a paradigm of self-importance and most likely won't change as a leopard doesn't change it' spots.
To be truly revolutionary. You must change from the patterns of old.
Do not let the culture change you. YOU change the culture and how you do this exceeds the words within the body of your blockchain posting operations.