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This is my weapon of choice today - *suck it.*

We don't move until the end of the month, but with my travel schedule being very volatile currently, we are trying to get us much done as possible before the move so that we are as organized as we can be. My job today is putting textiles into space bugs and vacuum packing what we don't need for the next weeks and hopefully, after we move in. These bags are pretty nerdy, but also pretty handy, as I think that I will be able to move all of it in our car in one trip. We will need a van for the larger items like bed and sofa however. 

![IMG_20200307_133925.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/tarazkp/8BNEnxKw-IMG_20200307_133925.jpg)

With so much going on in the walking world and on Steem, it is really hard to find the focus point, as the attention is being pulled constantly from one thing to another, with work, family, Steem, housing, travel, illness and then with the overarching Corona virus conditions that affect everything in some way. It is tiring. 

It is interesting to think about what is important in life at any given time and in the microcosm of Steem, we can see how quickly things can shift. When was the last post complaining about @burnpost or @sbdpotato I wonder. The things that people invested so much energy into a few weeks ago seem to have just, dropped off the face of Steem. 

This is natural of course, it is the way our attention works and perhaps even more so in the realms of the internet, where the drive for attention at any cost has incentivized drama and created a reactionary habit to it in us. Everywhere we turn online, there is another person shouting about something that is important to them, as if it is important to everyone, yet for a short time, we listen  -but there just aren't enough hours in a day. 

My math teacher at high school told of the importance of the subject and how we should be spending one to two hours every night studying to make sure we are proficient. My chemistry, English, biology, physics and every other teacher said the same. If I had done what they had said, I would have had to go home and start studying until 3 am each night, only to start again at 7. My art teacher didn't give a crap. 

This is one of the major flaws of the internet as while there is a mountain of information, the flow is so fast and furious in the realms that catalyze strong emotional reaction, that our attention is drawn even if the information doesn't serve us well. With the speed of flow and the constant change of direction, only snippets of information are possible to grasp and then these bits of "knowledge" get meaning applied and then extrapolated into the greater experience to become an actionable belief system. 

The tendency to feel like we are know and do a lot is strongly juxtaposed with the reality of our actions and that for most of us, we accomplish very little in this life, real or digital. Yet, we do feel that we take part, we do feel that we make an impact, we do feel that what we place our attention on is important - regardless of how easily it is forgotten in the next wave of information that flows with a new drama riding the wave. 

It is because of this flow of irrelevant nonsense that I do not watch the news unless provided a link from someone I believe will only give me content that they believe I require, that I am interested in. People who commonly drop random bits of information here and there that lead to nowhere useful (such as their own posts) very quickly get unconsciously muted - much like the advertising that goes unnoticed and clicked on many websites. 

I just don't have the time or energy to consume irrelevant information and just because it is relevant to others, does not mean that it has any bearing on my own experience at all. A lot of people write about what is important to them, myself included, but don't seem to realize that it may not be important to anyone else, even if the topic covered may be. 

The fact is, that if there is information available to fill knowledge gaps from better sources, those sources will crowd out the attention for looking further. A lot of people write about Steem for example, but how many Steem-writers do you need to follow in order to get a well-rounded picture of conditions and perspectives? 

Everyone can write their own blog, it doesn't mean that someone doesn't do it better or delivers in a way that is more attention grabbing and attractive. I have my style that some people enjoy, and may dislike - and you have yours that has the same potential to attract attention, or repel it. Just because I think I deliver decent, interesting and relevant content, it doesn't mean others think these things about my posts. 

When it comes to the attention and effort required to understand what is happening on Steem, one can spend all day reading all the different posts relating to the situation, but how many does one need to read? If you have been here for a while, you have probably built up a follow list that satisfies your needs with people you trust or at least spend time considering what they have to say. The list of people will change depending on preference, with for example, some people spending more time in the negative crowds, others in the positive.

This is the way social arrangements work in real life too, as while we think that we are open to many sources, we actually consume from a narrow set, one or maybe two newspapers that are read by the same group of people we spend our time with, a group likely no greater than a couple dozen commonly. 

This is actually one of the problems with the argument of "content discovery" on Steem as once the roster of authors are filled that satisfy niche needs, there is very little drive to go out and find a new author. This is also why it is important for a contributor wanting to build a following, to continually put the effort in to build that following with each post they create. Too much "off-topic" content, and it repels the audience that chose to follow them for a niche and, unless very interesting, is unlikely to attract new readership.

Attention is a fickle resource and is highly promiscuous. The next shiny thing can draw the attention of the masses in a moment. I see this as a massive opportunity under the current circumstances, although quite a few might not agree. For example, if Justin Sun removed the votes and then had his team deliver some high-value, community benefits, I am pretty sure that the drama of today would subside rapidly and life would move on - til the next drama came along. 

@pennsif brought up something in the PAL discord the other day that I would like to finish with. When the miners in the UK went on strike they had the support of the people, the community. However, once the strike dragged on and started to impact on the every day lives of the community, support wavered and in the end, was completely lost. While people like to take their moment when what they find is important is found important by others, they tend to hold onto it and try to stretch the moment out. Eventually, it gets tiresome, and the collective attention moves on, no matter how important it might have been a moment ago. 

For some, the current drama gives them relevance and their fifteen minutes of fame, but that can turn for the worse when they try to extend the draw of the spotlight and what they do starts to negatively impact on those who support them. We as a community on Steem, within the internet and in the current social culture we have, do not have a great deal of attention to spare, nor are we patient.

In crypto, we are even less patient than most, as we have the idea that we will become rich over night and do not seem to care if what we are actually doing is, selling out our future. To build a strong social ecosystem with a working economy takes time, and it isn't going to be solved in days, weeks or months - it is an ongoing and continual direction and redirection. It is easy to get the attention caught up in the drama and much harder to focus on what is actually best for a valuable future. 

Like my vacuum, the conditions suck at the moment, but the work still needs to be done.


Taraz
[ a Steem original ]

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