gm frens.
I've been on a little bit of a writer's block for the past couple of days; not going to lie. I opened up my laptop a couple of times and stared and the empty screen. I did type a few lines only to crumple the imaginary paper in my head and toss it in the bin with a slight upside down smile of disapproval. I tried recording a video, but I ended up sitting in front of my camera with lights and mic ready to go. I couldn't come up with something smart to say.
Today I decided to improvise.
I literally sat out on the corner of my street people-watching to see if I could find some inspiration. Suddenly I noticed some people endlessly doom-scrolling on their phone right outside the window where I was. I waited for them to leave before snapping this picture; I didn't want to seem like a weirdo.
It was amazing. One guy spent like 40 minutes. What could they possibly be consuming?
News? The bitcoin white paper? their Tik Tok feed?
I assume it's the latter by the frequency of the thumb flicks, but I couldn't tell with certainty without looking like Mr Bean.
It got me thinking though. Why would anybody want to spend that much time online without earning money? The idea is ludicrous to me.
Companies way more experienced and intelligent than me can offer a much better explanation, but it has something to do with the release of dopamine. You see, social media is built like a slot machine: every scroll’s a pull, and you’re chasing a hit—maybe a wild story or something that pisses you off enough to feel alive. Even if it’s bad news, your brain rewards the novelty or the emotional jolt. The unpredictability of what’s next keeps you hooked, same as gambling.
But after being on HIVE for so long, "the dopamine hit" feels kind of cheap, doesn't it? laughable even.
I could spend the exact same amount of time building my proof-of-person, helping others grow their account, voting on proposals, earning dinero by curating content produced by other humans just like me.
So why would anybody choose to doom scroll over any of these?
The decision seems obvious, wouldn't you agree?
The only reason I can think of that people would chose to endlessly thumb swipe legacy social media for free is that they don't know about the existence of this alternate universe of self-custody, peer-to-peer, value-4-value interaction between independent citizens of the interwebs. I'll give everybody the benefit of the doubt.
I won't join them though.
I'm perfectly fine here working on interesting topics, sharing knowledge, curating content and earning magic internet money in the process.
Freedom is not for everybody I suppose.
If they find their way here, good. If they don't, they don't.
