Escaping the Content Treadmill

We no longer lack tools for creating content. When content production and distribution is infinite, the important aspect is its primary function in crafting and proliferating culture*.* In other words, the value of content today comes primarily from its use in cultural production.

there is also a ceiling of finances and attention. Who has time or money to consume 100 substacks a month? The redundancy question, and lack of coordination between different creators to divide up responsibilities and admin, I think also eventually exhausts the medium and ultimately the audience.

the game of social media is to keep us creating assets that depreciate in hours. If they took months to depreciate, we wouldn’t use the platform as much. But because it’s hours, we “need” to spend more and more and more and more of our time on the platform for it to work for us.

Over the past century, technological advancements have massively reduced the cost and time needed to create and circulate content. Though this has liberated artists, consumers are now drowning in a virtually infinite supply of things to watch, listen to and read. The answer to a world where attention is the key constraint, not capital or distributi... See more