I’ve been in the digital media game for 10+ years now, and I’ve been thinking a lot about “content” lately.
One of the main reasons that I sold my blogging business is that I became disillusioned by a slow but unquestionable shift on the internet:
Quantity, not quality, is increasingly being rewarded.
This is true for every type of content: news articles, blog posts, YouTube videos and all social media, which is increasingly dominated by short form video and AI slop.
The same thing happened decades ago with TV when the 24-hour news cycle began in the early 1980s.
And look at what we have now. How much do you enjoy watching TV news? I avoid it like the plague.
The Pressure Is Real
For content creators, the pressure to publish more at the expense of better is powerful.
Our algorithmically generated feeds are increasingly full of bite-sized, recycled content, much of it created by AI.
There are even self-styled “business” gurus selling courses about how to make faceless, automated video content, simply to make money.
They have zero soul in the game.
Some people will do anything to make a buck.
But for some creators and most viewers, this doesn’t feel right.
How I Feel About It
As a long-form writer and video creator, I feel much better when I put more effort into fewer published works. I want to go deep, not drown in the shallows.
Lawrence Yeo summed this sentiment up perfectly in his article, Make Classics, Not Content:
Content is the commodification of creativity. It’s the piecemealing and packaging of art so that it can be delivered at regular intervals to satisfy the needs of the attention economy.
I read that article a few weeks ago, and it’s been in the back of my mind ever since.
I don’t want to make content. I want to make creative, thoughtful, effortful articles and videos.
These will always take longer than one day to produce (many weeks, sometimes), and the final result will almost always be longer than a 30 second video.
This is what I like to watch, and it’s what I like to make.
This is why I don’t have social media on my phone. It’s why I’m not on Facebook and don’t use LinkedIn or TikTok.
Advice for “Consumers”
I think this advice applies to non-content creators too:
Consume classics, not content.
You vote with your attention. Every view is a vote to see more of whatever you’re viewing.
When you spend 20 minutes scrolling short form video, creators are building their reach on your back, making more ad revenue, charging more for sponsorships.
When a video gets a lot of views, it’s only natural for its creator to double down on that topic and/or format.
So, as cliche as it is, be the change you want to see. More accurately, be the change you want to watch.
If you don’t want the slop content fire to spread, don’t feed it.
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