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J.E. Petersen's avatar

I am very much not a gamer, but that was quite a pitch.

Completely agreed on what makes Substack successful. #depthisthenewnovelty

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Blaise Lucey's avatar

Right? I might be too hopeful, but I think the social media burn-out has to be inevitable at this point. We, the people, are demanding something deeper. At least if the user experience is right!

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Alexandru Constantin's avatar

Great piece. I've become so fatigued with Twitter, Instagram, the news, damn near everything.

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Blaise Lucey's avatar

Totally agree. I often wonder if it's the channels that are frying me or the experience of them. IE - is the content itself the problem or the delivery of it? A digital life is a death by notification.

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Alexandru Constantin's avatar

It has to be a bit of both. I know some people can use twitter properly, but not me. Even this morning, I'm eating breakfast and I opened the app straight to some idiotic video about some professor going on the usual "kill whitey" rants, and I got irritated. Of course, I noticed that there's nothing I can do about it but be irritated so even coming across such idiotic bait is a net negative on my life. I'm just going to stick to following art bots.

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Blaise Lucey's avatar

Ha! I know the pain. I’ve found deleting the app and only using Twitter on desktop brings at least some peace of mind. It’s a terrible yet weirdly necessary addiction.

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Shannan Mann's avatar

I've just spent an hour or two binge-reading your Substack...and maybe this is kind of what you were "warning" against but wow...I really love what you're creating here. Thank you for writing!

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Blaise Lucey's avatar

Haha, I think that’s a success - meaningful engagement achieved. Thanks for reading!

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Cameron Maxwell's avatar

There's a definite interest in deep engagement among Gen Z, especially, which often cuts across peoples' expectations. Kids today are as capable of philosophical yearning and self-examination as any other generation, and, in my experience, are affecting as much burnout with the attention economy's relentless demands as we Millenials. The posts and videos they talk about amongst each other are ones which pose durable questions about the world, and how to best live in it; all the dance trends and challenges serve as quick-smash dopamine bait, but they aren't where their heads are at. It'll be interesting to see how deep engagement and deep learning will be fostered going forward - things aren't as bleak as the old-heads might imagine.

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Blaise Lucey's avatar

Astute observations as always, Mr. Maxwell. Lived Gen Z observations from the front line!

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