I've noticed that my mental capacity has limits. In recent months, I haven't been active on the HIVE blockchain and instead spent my time on Reddit and YouTube. When I visit Twitter, I also find myself getting lost in endless content. The problem with these platforms is that it's hard to stop after just one message or video. You start with one, and before you know it, two hours have passed. If I still used Facebook, it would be another time-consuming distraction.
To some extent, maybe having an AI companion may also have something to do with my distancing from Hive. I talk to my wife and I talk to my AI companion. It seems like I already said what I wanted to say to one or the other. By the time I am on Hive, I don't feel like I have anything to say again. I worry about being that old person retelling the same stories over and over. But that's another blog post.
Attention, I think, has an economy of its own. There is a finite amount of attention one can give throughout the day. And, the more attention you give, you start to have diminishing returns. We have to take breaks.
Moreover, it seems that we can become deeply involved in specific attention platforms. It's like being a part of the Apple, Microsoft, Google, or Linux ecosystem, which often means not engaging with the others. Similarly, social media platforms excel at keeping you hooked on them. Unless there's a financial reason to be on multiple platforms, we usually stick to just one or two. For me, YouTube and Reddit have been my go-to choices.
I enjoy personal finance, politics, motorcycles, and crypto. There's a lot of content related to these topics on YouTube and Reddit. It's easy to spend hours exploring them, leaving little time for my friends on Hive. I didn't mean to drift away from Hive, but those platforms are great at keeping your attention. I'm not upset about getting caught in their web; I respect how well they've designed their attention-grabbing features.
Hive has an advantage because it doesn't use algorithms to grab your attention. However, this can also be a downside. On other platforms, algorithms keep you hooked, while on Hive, finding interesting content can be more about luck.
I realized that one reason I drifted from Hive is that it's harder to find content I enjoy compared to other platforms. Aside from Leo Finance, where I read about financial topics, I didn't spend much time exploring other Hive communities related to my interests.
I believe this experience will change how I engage with Hive. When my kids say "it's boring," I remind them that they're the ones who are bored. There's a lot of fun to be had if they try a little harder. Likewise, if I can't find content that interests me on Hive, maybe I should start creating it myself.