Scotland 2021
This was just before I started ST1 training.
creator economy
TLDR : Internet is allowing for permission-less leveraged creation. Short observations on the topic below stolen from others
The term ‘content creator’ has become mainstream. People want to grow up and become influencers/content creators. This is on observation on how media is impacting the landscape, reflections on attention, and the future of information consumption.
Individuals are replacing legacy media
PewDiePie vs NY Times. Who do you think has a larger reach? You have single individuals who have outsized reach over a fanbase. Individuals can change the ‘culture’ and flavour of society. People connect with individuals rather than faceless publishers.
Leverage
You can reach 1000x more people potentially by doing a good YouTube lecture versus an in person lecture. A Tik Tok chef is reaching millions more than the classically trained Pastry Chef operating locally. An online personal trainer is making 1000x more than a personal trainer not using the internet as leverage.
Permissionless
Anyone can create. From a 6 year old minecraft ‘let’s play’ to 80 year olds giving life advice on Youtube. This is beautiful, because humans are naturally creative. I don’t ever judge when anyone creates, because I know they are going to get better.
Observations :
Attention is the new currency
Those who can garner more eyeballs are the winners of the attention economy
Algorithmic curation
We are novelty seeking creatures. ‘Neomania’ as NNT calls it. The algorithm tends to push more ’extreme’ content as it gets more views. It tends to prioritise for serendipity over depth.
The attention economy operates in ‘Extremistan’
You get massive variations with big winners. It means that for the majority of creators, luck plays a huge part as with any business related endeavour. Compare that to the steady salary of a dentist.
Creators use their leverage to start businesses
Once they have a ‘following’, they start growing out businesses while focusing on their creation.
Those who win- win big
Those who win, also then tend to win big financially. This is a major incentive for many to create- the hope of making a living.
A tweet I ran across:
For learning, text > audio > video.
For earning, video > audio > text.
YouTube is about tapping into the collective intelligence of humanity
You can learn advanced maths on YouTube. You can learn how to play instruments. You can find out how someone who lives half way across the world spends their day.Not just YouTube, but blogs/podcasts/Tik Tok. Kids today are really smart.
Pseudonymous creation
You can have entirely pseudonymous creators who are earning under a fake name. For example : Corpse Husband on Youtube. Satoshi Nakamoto - a pseudonymous creator of a trillion dollar industry. Stolen from Balaji, but you already have many people separate their ’earning name’, ‘speaking name’ and ‘real name’.
Too much information
720,000 hours of video are uploaded to Youtube daily. This Onion article seems a bit more real now.
More information is being packaged and unpackaged in the form of tweets, articles, videos, audio, podcasts. There can be a fear of missing out/ information overload . You can never get to the bottom of feed.
The trouble seems to be separating the signal from the noise in some sense. How do you know what to pay attention to? Largely, you aren’t choosing but the algorithm is nudging you.
I don’t have a good response to this. My solution tends to be:
- shut it off. Put down your phone and go outside.
- Create rather than consume (join the horde of creators)
- Do and let go. Create and let go. Or as Neil Gaiman says: make good art. Create for the sake of creating.
Future
off centralised platforms
Youtube can decide to remove content from YouTube. Creators are at the mercy of a centralised authority. You already see many moving away from this as a sole assurance, using services like Patreon for support directly, cutting out the intermediary. It is likely that you’ll be able to ‘port’ your social graph from one platform to another, with decentralised options.
even better algorithmically curated feed
The algorithm can be improved and optimised to that you can choose what you want. If I want the algorithm to maximise depth, it will only show me maybe one recommended video. If I want to be entertained, then it will show me funny cat videos.
Gig Economy and Remote Work
COVID has already shown what it possible. People will more work on an as-needed basis, choose their own hours and work contracts, rather than fixed payed jobs. This can be beneficial, but it becomes highly meritocratic on a ‘global scale’. The best radiologist in India can report scans in the UK, the best software engineer can pick their jobs. The most skilled come out on top.
Conclusion
Software is eating the world. Naval : “Your company may not be in the software business, but eventually, a software company will be in your business.” Single individuals are becoming businesses and founders of companies.
One interesting observation is that the variance is increasing in the world. You can have a 25 year old with no job/prospects, 25 year old married with kids, 25 year old billionaire (Vitalik). I’m sure soon, you will have pseudonymous teenagers who are making millions with their SaaS or their artwork, or music.
Additional Reading
algorithmic supercomputer pointed at my brain
I’m becoming technologically symbiotic with my iPhone. It’s partly terrifying, but my recent screen time has been atleast 6 hours daily. I know some people are much worse.
The trend is that we are escaping into the virtual. Software is eating the world. I’m all in favour of this. The internet allows us to form communities where geographic distance becomes secondary to geodesic distance (find your ‘tribe’), it allows for permission-less leveraged creation, it allows for curiosity driven learning and tinkering. The iPhone has abstracted many tools into a single clean interface. I like this.
Screentime is not bad.
Screen time is not bad. It’s too general a term. Screen time can encompass hours scrolling on Tik Tok or Twitter, or hours spent reading insightful blogs/books, watching informational YouTube videos, creating music, listening to audiobooks and podcasts, programming.
I don’t like the meme that screen time is bad. But what tends to happen is, since I am carrying this supercomputer around 24/7, there is almost no friction to accessing Twitter/TikTok at the tap of a button. It’s too easy to fall into the shallows.
How the smartphone is altering habits of life
I want the world. I want the whole world. I want to lock it all up in my pocket - Veruca Salt
I’m not a luddite. I like my smartphone. These are simply observations
Conversation
I noticed I would be on my phone during a conversation. That is a signal that the conversation is not a priority. Your attention is scattered and you are not truly paying attention to the other person. I’ve been in groups where everyone is just staring at their phone. I’ve been conscious of this, but I don’t want this to become a habit.
Neomania :
We are novelty seeking creatures. I find that I am skimming a lot more and searching for new content, rather than deeply absorbing what already exists. Serendipity is valuable, but the ratio of discovery-understanding is skewed.
Work follows you home
My WhatsApp rang at 4am one time. It was the surgical reg (who works in Nottingham) calling me thinking I was on a night shift. With email, I find myself checking work email at home. There is no longer a separation. I am 100% accessible to all the people I give my phone number out to 100% of the time.
Boredom is suppressed
I’ve spent 30 days on a meditation retreat, as well as several shorter ones before - silence, no tech, no books, no speaking. Just sit and walk.
Reality is incredibly interesting. There is beauty in the mundane. Instead of paying attention to sounds( the birds outside right now) or just looking at people on the train, it is becoming easier to be glued to the virtual. Distraction as a default.
Boredom is essential for creativity and mental sanity.
So how can I ensure that as a default that I spend time meaningfully, rather than waste fully?
How to limit time on devices
- Remove any social media apps from your phone
- Keep your notifications off
- ‘Black and white’
- Don’t check your phone first thing in the morning
Conclusion
You can never understand your relationship to a substance or behaviour until you get off it