A Free Tool To Introduce Calm And Deal With Social Media

One of my tools for dealing with all of the noise and nonsense that goes on around me is some nice ambient sleep music. When I was in school studying software engineering, my mind started getting overrun with thoughts. Another programmer introduced me to ambient music.

While there's a wide variety of ambient music, I've gotten some good relaxation vibes from Moby. He's made these selections free for download and personal use.

Breathe easy, Internet.

MOBY: LONG AMBIENTS

- Mr Benja -

Creatives Have All The Power

In a world abuzz of social media discussion, we seem to forget that creatives have the power. I forget this all the time. While there's a lot of extremely relevant marketing discussion going on, it's mostly coming from the marketing people that don't specialize in content creation. That's the job of the creator, and it's a power that we should be tapping into much more.

We complain about social media, but it's our weapon moreso than thei

Say you're a writer. It's your place to create 60,000 words for a novel. You've got a lot of work to do in order to create a coherent piece of work. On the other side, it's the marketer's/advertiser's job to make 20-100 words of fantabulous copy and spin that into a multitude of views for your 60,000 words.

While this might not seem fair to you, please realize that you just wrote 60,000 words. You can *probably* figure out a way to write 20-100 and spread it out. And even if you aren't very good at creating those 20-100 words, the really hard part is getting over mental blocks, putting those words out, and convincing people to listen.

But honestly, that part is much easier.

Dive in.
Learn from others.
Get good at talking about your work.
Don't be so hard on yourself.

Content is still king.

- Mr Benja -

P.S. I'm not talking as if I'm some outgoing, social maven. I'm still working at this myself. :) 

Little Time With Big Impact On Social Media

I was asked how I can handle being on social media so much. Good to know that my digital sweat is paying off somewhere.

In short, the answer is that I practice at being an efficient user. I've worked to figure out places were I'm spending time making decisions or dwelling for too long. Then I remove/adjust those places.

Here are two of the major areas where I save time online.

Posting:
As far as my regular content goes, I jot down, photograph, and document my thoughts/experiences. Then, at certain times during the day, like after breakfast or dinner, I go to that archive and blast out the content quickly. Since it's been sitting in the back of my mind or has been noted for a while, I usually don't need to think much about what I'm creating.

Reading/Consuming/Checking:
Reading social media can be a huge time drain, so I only check/reply to social media in certain lag moments that have a capped time limit. Like when I'm boiling water, toasting bread, sitting on the toilet, waiting in the grocery line, etc. There are a ton of these little moments throughout the day that require us to just wait around for minutes at a time, so I put that time to use.

For example, I have a Star Wars discussion group that I engage in. Without being disciplined, it can take up all of my day. So for less than five minutes in the afternoon, I scan the updates and make *quick* comments. I then close down the browser. Later in the evening (after dinner), I do a deeper read, make longer comments, and post new content. This happens with multiple online destinations, and takes at most thirty minutes.

None of this interrupts the "me" time though. That's priority, and part of what I think allows me to just get online, do my thing, and then get off at designated points during the day.

Let me know your thoughts.
- Mr Benja -

Our Thinking Is Changing

All this technology that we are using to broadcast our ideas has done something to our thinking:

If we have a verbal thought, we Tweet it.
If we have a thought to show and tell, we YouTube it.
If we have visual thoughts, we Instagram it.
If we have thoughts that need to be share with Friends, we Facebook it.
If we have thoughts that we need to share with randoms, we Reddit it.
If we want to dance like everyone is watching, we TikTok it.
If we want to throw some art to the world, we ArtStation it.
And if we have slightly deeper thoughts, we blog about it somewhere.

In other words, these social media outlets have become extensions of our brains. (And there are many of them.)

If you step back and think about it, it's kinda weird...and amazing.

What We're Calling Social Media Is More Like Social Telecasting

I just realized something.

Although interactive, newer social media platforms aren't really trying to connect people like before. They're not conversation platforms, but are more akin to telecasting platforms. They're set up so that everyone gets their 15 minutes and can spend money to use and access it. Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube follow this paradigm I'm calling social telecasting.

That's a different point of view from the genesis of online communication, which came from telephone and mail systems. That would be your multi-directional communication platforms like text messaging, Facebook, email, forums, Discord, and Twitter.

It's like television and radio when compared to telephone and the water cooler.

I say this after hanging around some kids and watching how they used social media. It's like they were maintaining their own unscripted reality shows via the social broadcast platforms. BUT they actually communicated via messaging apps, phone calls, and in person.

This got me thinking about how I have been using (or misusing technology). Because to have a conversation, you still need to have an audience that you are talking with and listening to, not simply broadcasting your video at.

Minor shift in thinking with possibly major ramifications for me.

Just Started "Friends of Benja"

Sometimes I don't like taking the time to search for the links to my friends online real estate, so I'm bringing back the idea of a linked list of friends that I had a while back.

With all of the social media nonsense going on, I want to have something a little more customized to my tastes that isn't dependent on whatever the social platform deems is appropriate. Just like the rest of this site, I plan to keep updating it as time goes on.

Check it out HERE.

Behind The Scenes Is My Scene

As much as I like culture, community, and groups, I really don't get down with a lot of social activities, I get down with popular energy. There's a difference. I really like the behind the scenes stuff. I like the process, the building, the construction, the planning, and the stuff that makes it happen. I also like to work with other people that are doing things that make sense. Discussing different aspects of development isn't work to me. It's fun. THAT would be my social work. All the yakkity yak of traditional marketing isn't my thing.

That kinda makes me feel a bit misaligned in today's climate. It seems like the product matters so much less when the modus operandi is to steal flavor and market hype. Of course, this is a result of the power of the Internet. I'm not mad at it, but I would be lying if I didn't state that

It's like church. I used to like the scriptures, the free breakfasts, the songs, the sermons, and everything that goes into the production. But standing around talking about what Jenny Mae did last week? Miss me with that. Worrying about how nice your car and outfit is? Bullshit. Lying to the congregation? You can go to Hell. Give me the nuts and bolts.

So do I want to be a hermit? Nah. I'd just like to see a different type of community that isn't so reliant on the nonsense side of the extrovert lifestyle.

I confuse a lot of people with that kind of talk, but I don't give a shit.

Well, I'm just putting thoughts out there. Maybe we can start building some type of communities where the hype about the thing doesn't have to be the thing at the end of the day. Or maybe I need to work harder at understanding what's going on in the world now. My mother saw the direction I was going in and warned me, but I didn't understand what was going on. Now it's painfully obvious that she saw me for what I was: a cool-ass loner that would be okay with leaving a situation instead of working within it.

P.S. I'm currently thinking that a YouTube page would be more effective than typing words into a blogspot page, but I'm not ready for that level of...uh...creation.

Why Are You Online Withholding Likes? Click That Shit!

When I see a post I like, I LIKE it. There's not much thought going on with it. Spread those good vibes. Sometimes, I realize, "Oh...that person is a fucking bane on society. I shouldn't have done that. *UNLIKE*" But for the most part, I'm only following people deserving of my goodwill, and I don't usually resonate with bums enough to actually enjoy something they've posted.

Well, there was that one time a racist bum I happened to be following reposted some cool art, so I had to retract that Like. But even in that case, I was able to learn about a new artist that I could track down and follow. See, something good out of the dumb shit.

Anyway, don't hold back on Likes, they don't cost you anything and make whoever spent the time making the post feel a little better. Besides, you also get a signal boost and you have positively added yourself to the Big Data algorithm in the World Wide Web. Clicking that Like means you are one step closer to a better world...or maybe you aren't. Maybe you shouldn't even be online that much. So click or don't click. It doesn't matter that much.

Don't Talk About It, ____ About It

"Don't Talk About It, Be About It" has been a little mantra of mine for a while. It came from a rap lyric. Today, I had a good idea, and my first thought was, I'd better post about this. Then, an altered version of the mantra popped in my head as, "Don't Talk About It, Tweet About It."

Hmmm...I felt like my subconscious is telling me that nothing really matters unless I post about it online and someone engages with the post. Seriously. That's a real thought I've been having. (The idea of a tree falling in the forest comes to mind.)

But I'm not mad at that state of things.  I suppose that's just me just coming to grips with how things work. Maybe I should just change my mantra to, "Don't Tweet About It, Be About It." Nah, that won't get me any Likes.

You can follow me on http://twitter.com/mrbenja