Tapestries-27 | Open Book: #6
Digital tools, creativity, quiet and balance.
Tools
22 October 2020
"About 80% of U.S. kids age 9 to 12 have played Roblox. And kids spend a lot of time on it, as this staggering headline shows: “Young People Spent More Time on Roblox than YouTube, Netflix and Facebook Combined.” That headline is from before a global pandemic drove millions of kids to stay home and connect through game worlds."
This quote, from a post on Digital Native, encapsulates what intrigues me about the concept of technological dexterity or texture. There is a revolution underway in how we interact with technology, and it's being driven by really young people in a world that's generally hidden from the rest of us.
When we think about the way technology is changing the public square, we generally think of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Netflix and other household names. But the changes in behavior these products ushered in are now second nature to us. We now expect the world to be on-demand, mobile and refreshed in real-time.
The real revolution is being driven by a truly digitally native cohort that's armed itself with the tools to create the online the experiences they desire, instead of having an algorithmically determined feed shoved down their throats. The rise of Roblox and TikTok is a strong datapoint suggesting that the younger generation is enthralled by the prospect of creating, not just consuming.
It can sometimes feel like the dominant technology players today - like Facebook, Google and Apple - are so large and powerful that they may endure forever, and there's an argument to be made that they will. But it's more likely that as the way we interact with technology evolves, and consumer desires change, new platforms will emerge.
The incumbents' existence is predicated on certain assumptions about our behaviors sustaining. They're undoubtedly conscious of their own mortality and are using their power, capital and reach to position themselves for this new future.
Status
21 October 2020
I'm 30 years old. The first social platforms I encountered and then grew up with were Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn (broadly in that order). My generation therefore spent most of its time engaging with social tools online that were designed to help us "project" something (and "aspire" to in reverse). In this world, brand is currency. Those who are most adept at projecting a particular type of brand will likely generate the largest audience, which as currency, is monetized in different ways.
When I look at the younger generation, Gen Z, it strikes me that brand, while important, is not the ultimate currency. I believe that for Gen Z, and am looking forward to testing this view, creativity is currency. My hypothesis is based on two points. First, that creativity is more authentic than brand, and second, that Gen Z's tools of choice show their preference for creativity over brand.
First, authenticity. My generation has been complicit in turning digital media into hollow, performative garbage. Gen Z, who really are digitally native, are savvy bullshit-detectors, and they're adept at sniffing out the inauthenticity that's become so pervasive in so much of social media's content. Their starting point is one of skepticism; they need to be convinced that something is authentic. My generation's starting point now includes some skepticism, but is sufficiently open to permit the view that something may be authentic (even in part). Under this approach, there's room for our human tendencies and biases to take over, and the authenticity of the content can become an afterthought.
Second, Gen Z's tools. One of most noticeable differences in technology use between the generations is the degree to which Gen Z uses and has grown up with YouTube. Their engagement with it is deep, both as consumers and creators. The other important data point is TikTok. At the risk of oversimplification, my understanding is that TikTok's algorithm surfaces content based on engagement, not the reach of the creator. This design choice is a philosophical acknowledgement that users care more about the quality of the content than who it came from, and clearly subordinates the importance of brand. Through this design, and the arming of its users with creative tools, it has upended the social media paradigm. TikTok and YouTube, from my limited understanding, promote quality content over brand, and their penetration with a younger audience is telling.
I think moving away from "brand" is a healthy change for our social platforms. The emphasis on creativity is profound, and something that I am continuing to explore in these pages, as well as a longer post.
Noise
20 October 2020
I am currently in Maine for a few days, and am writing this particular post from our cabin on the shores of Lake Lawry. The trees are dropping their red and yellow leaves, the lake is quiet, and there's nobody around to disturb the peace. I thought it would be the perfect place to do some writing. Maybe it will be in the coming days, but right now, the juices aren't flowing.
I've been reading Seneca's "Letters from a Stoic" for the last few weeks. Letter 56 is titled "On Quiet and Study", in which he discusses the concept of noise. I thought that sitting by the lake, away from the noise and bedlam of New York, would be the perfect tranquil setting for writing. The fact it hasn't been likely suggests more about the din between my ears than the abundant silence of the lake. Seneca says:
"Words seem to distract me more than noises; for words demand attention, but noises merely fill the ears and beat upon them...[r]eal tranquility is the state reached by an unperverted mind when it is relaxed."
I take Seneca's "words" to include thoughts, a position supported by the context of the letter. The lake clearly projects less noise, but has no effect on the impact of words and thoughts tumbling around my head. Arguably, a mind with untamed words and thoughts is not helped, but rather hindered by the absence of noise.
I've found that for all New York's intensity and noise, it's where I feel most creative. The city itself is a forcing function, and the constant interaction with different people and concepts creates an incredibly fertile creative space. Outside of COVID-times, it's also a place that forces you out of your office or apartment and into contact with the rich outside world. The city gives you kinetic energy.
Seneca states later in the letter that:
"[g]reat generals, when they see that their men are mutinous, check them by some sort of labor or keep them busy with small forays. The much-occupied man has no time for wantonness, and it is an obvious commonplace that the evils of leisure can be shaken off by hard work."
In this example, the behaviors the generals seek from their men (I'm guessing) include focus, attentiveness and camaraderie, and Seneca is suggesting activity or labor helps deliver these behaviors. In my case, perhaps the behaviors and attributes I prize right now are creativity, efficiency and connection. Perhaps that's what New York gives me.
I'm enjoying sitting by the lake. And perhaps writing this piece and unjumbling my mind a little is what's required to enjoy it even more.
Balance
19 October 2020
I have a tendency to carry and overplay things. Whether it's a situation that's already occurred (i.e. the past) or a situation yet to play out (i.e. the future), I am guilty of wasting the present on two things that don't actually exist. I'm sure it's universal.
One powerful realization I think I've had in the last few years is that "this it it". I don't mean it in a fatalistic way. I mean that the present moment is literally all we have. It's cliched but it's actually become more and more profound the longer I've spent with the thought.
This piece from Wait But Why has been one of the most impactful of my life. In it, Tim Urban states:
"Jack (the piece's character) sees his life as a rich picture depicting an epic story and assumes that the key to his happiness lies in the broad components of the image. But this is a mistake, because Jack doesn’t live in the picture’s broad strokes, he lives at all times in a single pixel of the image—a single Today."
The realization that this is it, now and in the future, is powerful. When you realize that every single moment between now and the end of your life will be largely identical in structure - i.e. you perceiving the world from your particular viewpoint and through the lens of consciousness - it has to change the way you decide to spend each moment.
I am guilty of the same mistake as Jack. Carrying and overplaying things is really just bringing the entirety of my rich life projection into individual moments. Acknowledging that this is it, now and forever, makes it seem ludicrous to burden each moment with the spectrum of my future self's concerns and anxieties. To not acknowledge this is to diminish the quality of mind, and therefore, quality of life.
I've found that daily meditation and gravitating towards things that make me happy in the moment have been useful in allowing me to focus on the pixel. The rich picture requires planning and strategizing, and I do that incessantly. So what I'm therefore trying to train is balance. When I reflect in however many years, the greatest comfort of a life well-lived will be confidence that I treated each moment with its appropriate amount of respect.
Photo by ASTERISK