I get the impression much of what you're mourning has moved underground, probably into invite only spaces and private "communities." Which is hard when a lot of the places I'd want to spend time tossing ideas around are pay to enter, and the best ones are rarely cheap.
I'm still waiting with bated breath to see what Substack becomes. There are some great people on here, but there's also an overwhelming discussion about "making it" that gets exhausting. Plus, I think many of us want to hang out in person, discuss ideas with real people rather than battling AI and bots, and feel physical objects in our hands again.
Agree with this assessment, that's why there's been a spike in "experiential travel" - as in retreats and community gatherings, I think things will continue to trend that way.
More and more people will find their scene in online spaces and then come together in physical locations throughout the year, like the idea of Pop-up cities which I've seen gaining more popularity
One of the things I really liked about Good Work was how memoir-forward and personal it was. Maybe I'm just projecting, but I think that's a microcosm of a broader shift that is platform-agnostic. There's a sort of information fatigue, probably a function of AI, that has permeated the internet. A lot of cognitive labor is involved in parsing out whether ideas and information are even human-generated, let alone if they're coming from a place of genuine curiosity or are transactional/outcome-oriented. Most of what I've felt compelled to read lately has been like Good Work - personal, story-focused, emotionally resonant. I'm bullish on memoir and memoir adjacent-stuff, whether long- or short-form, because it brings ideas to life in a meaningful and impactful way that can't be faked (or at least not convincingly so).
Yeah I agree. I’ve also been drawn to history and historical fiction (which is probably more “real” than a lot of nonfiction) but also writing that I’ve been calling “memoirish”
Feel you on this, Paul. I was never great at writing big thought pieces (love reading them!) but what does seem to have worked for me is telling my own story and letting anyone who’s curious be along for the ride. My growth is slow but it does happen. I like what the lady above said about it still feeling better to post than not post. That’s true for me. I also just think of what I’m doing as mostly for posterity. I feel like I’m here on earth to build a body of work that is helpful to other humans, and writing is one of those things. As are my community offerings and workshops and other stuff I get up to. Will it amount to anything? I dunno. But I can look back and say I tried, and that is good for my self respect. Ok haha I have the flu so I hope this doesn’t sound terribly negative lol. At the end of the day I just love writing and sharing! It’s worth it for its own sake! But yeah. I miss feeling more part of a world of ideas. The downside of ongoing decentralization I guess.
Wow, I felt kind of sad after reading this post. It's not pessimistic, but not very optimistic either. But like you said at the end, let's see what happens.
I was trying to find the words to express my feelings and this comment summed it up nicely.
Feels like I'm late to the game in most things. This felt a lot like a few episodes ago on the Tim Ferriss show, him asking tons of questions about Youtube and trying to determine if he was too late for that particular content niche.
Think I'm at that point where I've written consistently for a year but could easily fall off the wagon because "who cares". Straddling that emotional line.
I wonder about this, because I'm new to the online writing scene. When people mourn what it was, while I'm sitting here appreciating what it is, there's a bit of a disconnect. Did I miss out? Or is the honeymoon phase of anything genuinely the best?
Your writing, along with dozens of others, has heavily inspired me to join the fray. And in my circles, it feels like there's a collective push against summaries, engagement-bait and "efficient markets" as you say.
The struggles are obvious and there's plenty to sift through, but I guess with nothing else to compare it to, I'm still loving it.
Such a good piece of writing - you pretty much described what I'm feeling. To me, it almost feels like a cycle. Things are fun at the beginning, the mass finds out, things get dull, everyone gets hurt, people start to move in all directions, when enough people leave, things become fun and fruitful again lol
Excellent piece Paul. I’m glad that you both took the time to write such a blog and the courage to post it. It does feel like we’re fighting a losing battle against video and I mourn the loss of deeply written blogs as well. Even as someone who enjoys indie creator videos on YouTube, I can find the platform exhausting. The content seems to be geared towards a hyperactive audience who needs quick cuts and overstimulation to stay engaged - the type of content that alienates the very people who actually have an attention span. Sadly, without one instigating a strict information diet for themselves such an attention span is becoming rarer and rarer. I for one, always appreciate a well written blog (like yours) and have purchased both your books. You have my highest respects, Kris.
I feel like I've just entered the arena but also notice the blog landscape changing. The cost of not posting (for my own mental clarity and sharpness) is still higher for me than posting into a void so I keep doing it.
The biggest issue seems that attention moved elsewhere for a bunch of reasons (algohackers, tiktok, tiktok-ification of other platforms).
And most can only scream into the void for so long. Hence the number of people willing to invest the time to share their thinking online dipped below a critical threshold where now the whole scene of smart, independent, online thinkers seems to collapse.
@paul what I love about this is how the point of posting for you has nothing to do with growing an audience or monetizing. It's very detached to outcomes, which is something I've been thinking about lately. I don't enjoy posting especially as a creator because I feel like there's an ongoing culture of doing it for the sake of growing your distribution channel. I love your take -- thanks for sharing!
Thank you for this. Resonated a lot with my situation and reflections on curiosity, ideas and writing. Will try to set up my thing here. It will be trial and error and most likely a bit fun. Doing it for myself.
I get the impression much of what you're mourning has moved underground, probably into invite only spaces and private "communities." Which is hard when a lot of the places I'd want to spend time tossing ideas around are pay to enter, and the best ones are rarely cheap.
I'm still waiting with bated breath to see what Substack becomes. There are some great people on here, but there's also an overwhelming discussion about "making it" that gets exhausting. Plus, I think many of us want to hang out in person, discuss ideas with real people rather than battling AI and bots, and feel physical objects in our hands again.
I'm not really sure where that leaves the future.
Agree with this assessment, that's why there's been a spike in "experiential travel" - as in retreats and community gatherings, I think things will continue to trend that way.
More and more people will find their scene in online spaces and then come together in physical locations throughout the year, like the idea of Pop-up cities which I've seen gaining more popularity
I’m theoretically going to do something like this in the future. But I’m lazy
One of the things I really liked about Good Work was how memoir-forward and personal it was. Maybe I'm just projecting, but I think that's a microcosm of a broader shift that is platform-agnostic. There's a sort of information fatigue, probably a function of AI, that has permeated the internet. A lot of cognitive labor is involved in parsing out whether ideas and information are even human-generated, let alone if they're coming from a place of genuine curiosity or are transactional/outcome-oriented. Most of what I've felt compelled to read lately has been like Good Work - personal, story-focused, emotionally resonant. I'm bullish on memoir and memoir adjacent-stuff, whether long- or short-form, because it brings ideas to life in a meaningful and impactful way that can't be faked (or at least not convincingly so).
Yeah I agree. I’ve also been drawn to history and historical fiction (which is probably more “real” than a lot of nonfiction) but also writing that I’ve been calling “memoirish”
> My goal is to stay connected to myself
This. I have recently pushed myself to write more, and this is exactly why.
Thank you for putting this into words, Paul.
" And so we must remind ourselves, posting is a sacred privilege." Thanks, Paul!
Feel you on this, Paul. I was never great at writing big thought pieces (love reading them!) but what does seem to have worked for me is telling my own story and letting anyone who’s curious be along for the ride. My growth is slow but it does happen. I like what the lady above said about it still feeling better to post than not post. That’s true for me. I also just think of what I’m doing as mostly for posterity. I feel like I’m here on earth to build a body of work that is helpful to other humans, and writing is one of those things. As are my community offerings and workshops and other stuff I get up to. Will it amount to anything? I dunno. But I can look back and say I tried, and that is good for my self respect. Ok haha I have the flu so I hope this doesn’t sound terribly negative lol. At the end of the day I just love writing and sharing! It’s worth it for its own sake! But yeah. I miss feeling more part of a world of ideas. The downside of ongoing decentralization I guess.
Wow, I felt kind of sad after reading this post. It's not pessimistic, but not very optimistic either. But like you said at the end, let's see what happens.
I was trying to find the words to express my feelings and this comment summed it up nicely.
Feels like I'm late to the game in most things. This felt a lot like a few episodes ago on the Tim Ferriss show, him asking tons of questions about Youtube and trying to determine if he was too late for that particular content niche.
Think I'm at that point where I've written consistently for a year but could easily fall off the wagon because "who cares". Straddling that emotional line.
Melancholy
I wonder about this, because I'm new to the online writing scene. When people mourn what it was, while I'm sitting here appreciating what it is, there's a bit of a disconnect. Did I miss out? Or is the honeymoon phase of anything genuinely the best?
Your writing, along with dozens of others, has heavily inspired me to join the fray. And in my circles, it feels like there's a collective push against summaries, engagement-bait and "efficient markets" as you say.
The struggles are obvious and there's plenty to sift through, but I guess with nothing else to compare it to, I'm still loving it.
Such a good piece of writing - you pretty much described what I'm feeling. To me, it almost feels like a cycle. Things are fun at the beginning, the mass finds out, things get dull, everyone gets hurt, people start to move in all directions, when enough people leave, things become fun and fruitful again lol
thanks kevon!!
Excellent piece Paul. I’m glad that you both took the time to write such a blog and the courage to post it. It does feel like we’re fighting a losing battle against video and I mourn the loss of deeply written blogs as well. Even as someone who enjoys indie creator videos on YouTube, I can find the platform exhausting. The content seems to be geared towards a hyperactive audience who needs quick cuts and overstimulation to stay engaged - the type of content that alienates the very people who actually have an attention span. Sadly, without one instigating a strict information diet for themselves such an attention span is becoming rarer and rarer. I for one, always appreciate a well written blog (like yours) and have purchased both your books. You have my highest respects, Kris.
I feel like I've just entered the arena but also notice the blog landscape changing. The cost of not posting (for my own mental clarity and sharpness) is still higher for me than posting into a void so I keep doing it.
That’s ultimately the thing you need to keep going. It’s just always important to notice the opportunities and realities at play
I hate video! Haha I tried to make some video content and it really took it out of me. It doesn't give me any pleasure like writing does.
A lot of what made the Internet great when it came out were its online forums.
But now that spirit has morphed into Social Media Silos, where they allow you to post but that doesn't mean they have to show it to anyone.
It's the walmartification of writing. Cheap, easy and convenient media took over the hometown connection of mom and pop writing shops.
I agree Substack has the best chance of bringing some of that back, but I also know from having 3 kids that we lost this generation to video long ago.
Captures the current vibe really well.
The biggest issue seems that attention moved elsewhere for a bunch of reasons (algohackers, tiktok, tiktok-ification of other platforms).
And most can only scream into the void for so long. Hence the number of people willing to invest the time to share their thinking online dipped below a critical threshold where now the whole scene of smart, independent, online thinkers seems to collapse.
Feels like what you’re saying is: It’s the social media equivalent of the fall of Rome.
The roads aren’t maintained, grass grows over, trade and dialogue gets harder. Individual dialects and spaces become distinct, not connected.
But in that rubble are tiny spots of bright thinking.
‘Finding the others’ will always be the goal…
@paul what I love about this is how the point of posting for you has nothing to do with growing an audience or monetizing. It's very detached to outcomes, which is something I've been thinking about lately. I don't enjoy posting especially as a creator because I feel like there's an ongoing culture of doing it for the sake of growing your distribution channel. I love your take -- thanks for sharing!
Appreciate it!
Thank you for this. Resonated a lot with my situation and reflections on curiosity, ideas and writing. Will try to set up my thing here. It will be trial and error and most likely a bit fun. Doing it for myself.