Social Media Sucks
I've never been someone who has managed to consistently Tweet, Skeet, or post on Instagram. It always felt like a chore. A box-ticking exercise.
And I know why. For me, reducing thoughts down to a bite-sized post always felt gimmicky. Some people do it brilliantly, of course, and can come up with clever and pithy one-sentence insights. But whenever I tried to do this, it just felt fake and forced.
The way my thoughts flow just isn't suited to being reduced down to one or two sentences. I need some space to breathe and to let an argument, or a story, unfold over time. That kind of writing is something I really enjoy. Distilling it down to a single sentence? Not so much.
Blogging seems such an old-fashioned concept now, quaint even. Who still writes a blog? Who even reads one? But long-form writing is more thoughtful, and ultimately more interesting, for those who still have the patience to read it.
Long-form writing also has another advantage: it's a way to bypass the tyranny of the algorithm. You have to choose to engage with a longer piece, it's not something that your feed is just pushing at you.
I hate the idea that social media algorithms are starting to dominate our culture. An algorithm on Instagram will analyse the first ten reactions to a post, and from that decide who else gets to see it. Everything you see is optimised for ephemeral engagement, to keep your eyes on the screen so that big tech can feed you more ads.
As much as that content can be entertaining in the moment, it's junk food for the mind - Brain Rot as Gen Z call it. Forgotten by the end of the week.
Long-form writing takes more commitment to engage with, but will give you more food for thought. You can grapple with the argument, or be intrigued by the story being told. There is more nourishment there, IMO.
And for me, selfishly, it's much more fun to create. I can sit at my desk and let the words flow out, which they always do - almost without effort. Posting Tweets never felt like this, it was always tedious and unsatisfying.
So if you're wondering why I've started posting my thoughts in these rambling newsletters, that's the answer.