Rage, Rage Against the Content Machine

[00:00:00] You've become part of the content machine. The content machine does not sleep. The content machine has thousands of eyes waiting for the next sensational piece of entertainment to numb us from the reality of our lives. Demand is high. So the content creators deliver the supply like dealers helping a junkie with their next fix.

[00:00:19] ladies and gents. My name is Brandon Stover. Welcome to the online podcast.

[00:00:23] If you're a returning listener, well, thank you for coming back. I always appreciate you. And if you're just joining us for the first time, well, I appreciate you as well. And the way it works is I'm going to give a read through of my essay that I wrote about a topic on life. And at the end, I'll give some commentary to it. To give you a perspective into what I was thinking as I was writing it, what's going on in the world, how it can be applied to your own life.

[00:00:46] the reason why I do things this way, is that, I believe this is how philosophy is supposed to work. You can read the essay, read the words, and come to a conclusion on your own, but then we can start to have a discussion about it together. And although I may not be able to hear you, As we talk on this podcast, you can hear me and at least gather the intel from my side.

[00:01:06] Afterwards, I'd like you to go forward and apply it to your life.

[00:01:10] So with that in mind, let's go ahead and dive into today's essay.

[00:01:13]

[00:01:25] Rage. Rage against the content machine. Another day, another post. A post to be consumed and discarded, in one ear and out the other. I struggle with being a content creator. I resent that to be successful as a content creator, you must consistently put out content. That if you want a higher probability of being discovered, you must put out more content more often.

[00:01:48] Not only that, but you must develop that content for multiple platforms. If you want a higher reach on those platforms, then you must develop content specifically for that platform. You've moved from creating art to feeding an algorithm designed to benefit the algorithm's creator, not necessarily you.

[00:02:06] You've become part of the content machine. The content machine does not sleep. The content machine has thousands of eyes waiting for the next sensational piece of entertainment to numb us from the reality of our lives. Demand is high. So the content creators deliver the supply like dealers helping a junkie with their next fix.

[00:02:25] Around 3. 7 million videos are uploaded to YouTube every single day. Do we really need that much?

[00:02:33] How much new insight is really created?

[00:02:36] How much nutrition is actually delivered to our minds?

[00:02:40] are we not just creating so much noise that finding the signal is almost impossible? So another week arrives on your content calendar. a deadline looms to produce another piece of content. do you create content just for the sake of getting something out?

[00:02:54] Or do you create to add to the wisdom of our time? The latter may mean you missed your deadline. However, Won't what you create better the lives of those who have given their valuable time and attention to you?

[00:03:06] What happened to creating works of art to be contemplated, writings to be wrestled with, words to be listened to over and over, because every time you hear them, they reveal a depth to your soul you did not realize that existed? Oughtn't we strive for more than another mere like? We have an untold power of distribution that only Hermes could dream of,

[00:03:27] yet we push out empty words for another dollar, another like, another shot of hitting virality. Little do we realize that the most renowned, most controversial, most consumed, highest selling piece of content is one that was created two thousand seven hundred years ago. The Bible.

[00:03:44] Regardless of your faith or lack thereof, it's undeniable, that its creators spent a great deal of time creating a work of great importance to be studied for generations to come, not consumed and discarded in 60 seconds.

[00:03:57] At this time, you may be asking, Brandon, aren't you being a hypocrite right now? You're right, I'm here feeding the content machine too. It's a system, one that's not disappearing anytime soon. One that given all its downsides, also has tremendous benefits. One that, given the intention of the content creator, can spread wisdom far and wide.

[00:04:19] I'm trying to deliver a nutritional meal guised as sweet sweet candy. However, systems have rules that must be followed. So if you wish to create effective change in that system, you must learn and play by the rules of the game first, then begin bending and breaking them until you get your desired outcome.

[00:04:38] I also realize that my capacity to deliver insight is limited. My skills are mediocre. Consistently creating content is giving me the opportunity for deliberate practice, so that one day, my words may be swollen with value.

[00:04:52] What I ask of you, whether as a content creator or a consumer, is to do so with intention. Intention not just for mere entertainment, but with substance. If you're creating, create a signal, rather than a noise.

[00:05:06] If you're consuming, turn your brain on, rather than turning it off. don't be another cog in the machine to perpetuate the machine. Use the machine to perpetuate the betterment of you and your fellow people.

[00:05:19] So that's today's essay. Rage. Rage against the content machine. Honestly, I just wanted to write an essay for the awesome title. I'm somebody that listens to rock and love rage against the machine. And that title just. Came off the tongue so well, so I knew I wanted to create an essay for it.

[00:05:36] But I also realized I have this like love hate relationship with content creation on the one hand There's a ton of great content out there that you can learn a ton from like being able to have access to YouTube and going on there and searching up anything that you want to learn and Being able to get some pretty decent content for that is amazing.

[00:05:54] On the flip side, I hate that on your regular social media channels, you get on to TikTok or Instagram and there's another 60 second video and they just keep coming one after the other.

[00:06:06] And not all of them are there for your benefit. Some are just running advertisements. Some are just to get another like, some are just for the sake of being content. They just exist to be content.

[00:06:17] And that really, really frustrates me.

[00:06:19] Because the downsides of those content. Because they're often very addictive, like you just want to keep sitting there and keep watching them. It's easy to consume another 60 second video,

[00:06:27] and before you know it, you've spent an hour there consuming 60 different videos, and you don't feel any better about yourself. Your life hasn't gone forward in any way. You don't even feel that refreshed from being entertained. You feel drained, like something was taken from you. And that's you, as the consumer feeding the content machine, being one of the thousand eyes that are there to sit there and consume the content.

[00:06:49] On the flip side, as the content creator, you're trying to get your stuff out there, you're trying to get your message heard, whatever that message may be. And so you know that in order to do that, you have to play to the algorithm, you have to design content that's going to be consumed. And so, where you may want to put...

[00:07:05] Something out there with subsidence, something that's going to better people or educate them or whatever your mission may be.

[00:07:10] You have to design something that's clickbaity, catchy, something that can be viral, something that's going to be consumed by a lot of people. And so you have to play this balancing game of like, okay, how much substance can I put in there? And how can I also design it to be consumed?

[00:07:25] Now, there's some content creators that are really, really good at this and understand the dynamics of the system and understand what their North Star is, the message that they're trying to deliver and are able to do those things really well. An example I really like is Mind Pump Fitness. If you ever go and watch one of their YouTube videos, the first like 60 seconds are very eye catching.

[00:07:46] They're going to pull you into that video and they're often around some like controversial topic and help. So they know that their listeners are going to be like, Oh yeah, I want to find out the answer to this. So that's very controversial. Like I want to know more. I want to watch the video and then they get into their content, which is very educational, helping people to have a better relationship around health, around fitness and develop a lifestyle, around fitness.

[00:08:08] so just as I mentioned in this essay, they're trying to wrap a nutritional meal. Guised as sweet, sweet candy, something that's sensational, that's going to pull you in and then you realize you're actually eating something nutritional rather than candy.

[00:08:22] That is unfortunately the game that I think we have to play as content creators.

[00:08:26] But as you do so, I hope that you don't get lost in just creating content for the sake of creating content. Like, yes, it's a lot better as a content creator if you're consistent, if you can put out a piece of content every week, or if you're very ambitious, doing it every day.

[00:08:41] However, don't just put out a piece of content just to put out a piece of content because that calendar date came around. Like, if you don't have anything good to say, if you're just going to create more noise, I think it's more valuable that you don't put out a piece of content. And to be honest, like with my podcast, you've seen that, you know, I was gone for almost a year, wasn't putting out any content and I hadn't found a way to be consistent with myself to have consistent quality ideas to put out.

[00:09:08] And so I stopped putting out content. I wasn't going to put out noise, just put out an episode just to put out an episode if I wasn't going to be able to do it in a way that was quality and in a way that was actually going to. Possibly help other people. Obviously, I can't know for sure whether this essay or any of the other essays are going to help you, but that's my intention.

[00:09:29] That's what I'm coming here to try and deliver.

[00:09:31] Now I have a better system for doing that, and the way that I do it is I actually have an Airtable, and I just have a running list of ideas, and they often have a title or an idea, and then I may write out some notes for, What's that idea is and oftentimes these ideas are coming from my own life, my own experience, what I'm doing at that time in my life right now, I'm in the middle of content creation.

[00:09:55] I had some sort of philosophy to actually speak behind the idea. So it was the appropriate time to put out that piece of content.

[00:10:03] Now, the other type of content that I often struggle with is ones that are designed to help you get clients or bring in new business. Because I do believe that the best marketing that you can do is educational. So putting out free content that educates your customers about how to do the thing that you're selling.

[00:10:23] I think that's highly beneficial, and I have a podcast that is designed around that. It's called Theory Into Action, and it's helping people learn how to develop online courses, develop learning programs, uh, in order to educate other people. And it comes from the practices that I do at Plato University.

[00:10:39] It's also designed to help bring in clients so that I can help them with learning experience design.

[00:10:44] And again, the best way for myself to get discovered and the service that I offer is to consistently put out that content. So I'm doing an episode every week, and that episode is put out as a YouTube video, it's put out as a podcast, it's put out as an article, and it's also divided up into shorts in order to draw people back to that, you know, pillar piece of content.

[00:11:05] However, when I'm doing that, I want to still make sure that that piece of content in and of itself is valuable to them. That it's actually educating them, that it's actually helping them to design educational programs, even if they never work with me. However, I see a lot of business owners creating content that is just designed as marketing and not necessarily educational marketing or educational content.

[00:11:29] Sort of this bait and switch to have you consume the content as just one giant advertisement in order to get you to buy their product or service. And I don't agree with that either. That's a continuing to be noise. It's just another advertisement and we don't need more advertisements.

[00:11:46] Look, I really love marketing and I freaking hate commercials, especially when they're coming up in the middle of something else that I'm consuming. There's such an a break in my attention. into what I'm trying to learn, into what I'm trying to better myself with.

[00:11:58] And as I mentioned in this essay, I think it comes back to the intention of both the creator and the consumer.

[00:12:05] It's a supply and demand relationship. If the consumer wants something that is going to better their life, if, even if just enjoying the moment in entertainment. Or something that's educational and helping them grow. Then the creator is going to have to deliver that, especially if they want to be seen.

[00:12:22] On the flip side, as creators, we can choose to have the intention to make our content valuable. To actually have it swollen with value.

[00:12:31] And then understand the rules of the game and be able to dress it up in a way that is attractive to the consumers in order to deliver that valuable content.

[00:12:40] the other point that I was making with this essay is even in a world of 60 second videos and short form content, is that long form content, content that you sit there and wrestle with. You actually dedicate a lot of attention to is actually still highly valuable. We see a lot of long form podcasts that have gained popularity.

[00:12:59] the most obvious example being Joe Rogan, he can have a three to four hour long podcast and people will listen to the entire thing. Some of those conversations are more entertainment, but some are very in depth with the people that he's speaking to.

[00:13:11] Additionally, there's plenty of authors putting out books that are thousands and thousands of words. And we will sit there and read through them because there's so much value behind those words.

[00:13:21] in the essay, I use the example of the Bible.

[00:13:24] No matter what your religious beliefs are, if you don't have any, we can just study the Bible as a piece of content. And what we can see is there's messages in the Bible, different parts of, different pieces of philosophy that its creators were trying to convey, but they're dressed up in a way that could be consumed by other people, that they wanted to consume in that way.

[00:13:44] And in the Bible that's done through story, it's done through parables.

[00:13:48] Because stories are not only educational and informative, but they're also entertaining.

[00:13:52] and because they're entertaining, they're easy to remember. It's also easy to share.

[00:13:57] So because the Bible put so much valuable thought in the message it was trying to convey, and also dress it up in a way that people like to consume, it was viral for its time and continued to be so in the years afterwards.

[00:14:10] I think that's the level of quality that we should strive for as content creators. I'm not saying the writing that I'm putting out is Bible level. Not at all. I have plenty of years of practice before I'll ever get there and I probably will not ever get there.

[00:14:25] however, just like the essay I put out a couple weeks ago,

[00:14:28] perfection is an ideal that you strive towards. You may never hit it. But it's the intention of aiming towards that.

[00:14:34] So my promise to you, dear listener, and dear viewer, and dear reader, wherever you may be consuming this content,

[00:14:41] is I will try my hardest with every piece of content that I'm creating to do so with the intention of bettering your life.

[00:14:48] I don't preside to know what will better your life. My hope is that in hearing these words, in consuming this content, you begin to think for yourself about what that may be. And these words are just more of a guiding light,

[00:15:01] and that you can take what I've said or what other people have said and be able to go forth and better your life in some way. And then in the grand scheme of things, bettering the lives of those around you. And so we can all move forward and help to better the world. That sounds like a very lofty intention, but that's what I'm doing when I sit down to write these essays, when I create a piece of content, when I try and teach somebody something.

[00:15:22] And because that's my intention, I'm not just going to put out content for the sake of putting out content.

[00:15:28] However, I will try to be consistent in order to gain the practice of delivering that intention. Gain the practice of getting better at content creation and learning the game so that I can dress it up better More people can consume it and hopefully with that intention make more people's lives better

[00:15:44] So thank you for listening today If it was helpful to you, and if you think it would be helpful to somebody else, especially somebody that's a content creator Please share it with them. I would greatly appreciate it

[00:15:55] And until next time take care of my friend.