Reject numbers, embrace connections
For as long as I can remember, being online has meant paying close attention to numbers.
Web Counters were a staple of The Old Web. Guestbooks too, keeping a count of how many messages were left on your website.
Then came social media. Likes, hearts, shares, and retweets as a form of validation. Proof that your content can stand proudly alongside the rest. As millions of messages pour endlessly into the void, yours is seen and liked by someone, anyone, somewhere, shining for a moment before becoming nothing.
Even a platform like Bear, as blissfully simple as it is, provides upvotes and analytics. Every post can be measured: is this relevant, is this good, is this being upvoted? How many people have read my latest post as opposed to the one before?
If you set up your website, hooking it up to an analytics platform is an obvious step. You want to know how people are getting there, how long they're staying, what they are looking at or not looking at.
So what, you might be asking?
I find it exceedingly easy to get lost in those numbers. To get to tracking them several times a day, anxiously waiting for them to go up, for things to trend in the right direction. Validation for my thoughts, my opinions, my self. It's plain bad for my mental wellbeing.
Speaking more broadly: when "liking" or "upvoting" become the default actions, we lose so much. I'm guilty of this as much as anyone else. If you see or read something interesting online, why not reach out? Leave a comment, send an email, or get in touch. Start a conversation. There's a chance that it leads to an interesting exchange of ideas, a friendship, something. What's ever come out of clicking a button that makes a number go up?
If you're using any type of ad blocker (and why wouldn't you?) then you can "zap" content on any page, and make it disappear. It only takes a minute to remove the low-effort, low-quality forms of engagement. It's a start. We all have so much to say to each other if we give ourselves a chance to do it.
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