Exactly this! I miss the purity of the earlier age of social media - when it felt more connective and less performative. I don't know how to get that back, but it feels important to ponder.
Definitely feels reminiscent in a lot of ways! I like how it forces me to slow down and consume more thoughtfully. I guess it feels like a slightly more polished version of early social media?
Wow, kudos to you for that Caroline! I feel it just by way of having to exist around devices, but can't do much about it tbh...so learning to find that soft fascination in between ha
This makes me miss the days when I was blogging in my early teens and I had no idea about followers, it was just me and my friends writing silly things, thoughtful things, and photo dumps from digital cameras.
Shannan, to me, you’re one of those few people that has this gift that can change the world, that says out loud in your own brilliant way-- Huh, NO, what is this? (well, you might say, Huh, NO, WTF!). I for one am not the same person, am so much better, after reading your pieces, sometime pleas. Thank you. The last time I felt this was after reading Timi Sanni, OP Poet of the Week. You started this piece, really not with LC, but about when you met your now husband for the first time, Karan. I wish this world could go back to that, really meeting each other, I mean figuratively, the real deal, not all this technotrap, and rhymes with trap. Look what happened with a love like that? Again, thank you
I'm so glad you asked the question, "What about joy?" I've been reading Notes for about two months now, and the one thing I do notice is that there is an absence of joy. We know about the joy of sex and the joy of cooking, but what about the joy of writing? It seems to be lost in the dopaminergic obsession to get more views, more subscribers, and more exposure. Let's face the facts. Almost all of us here are amateurs, meaning we write because it's something we love to do. Only a scant few, the outliers, will ever be able to generate enough income to live on. In this forum, there are far too many one-trick ponies beating themselves to death, vainly chasing numbers. I would much rather hear about your joyful moments than listen to you wail away as you grind your axe. I guess this is something inherent to capitalism. In the obsessive fixation to monetize as much as possible, we lose something in the process: the simple joys of life, like writing and sharing a poem, a short story, an anecdote, or an essay.
Thank you Brian! Yes, I think that's the a deeply vital question to ask even if just to ourselves in the quiet of our own almost-sleep (and the like).
I think joy is an essential aspect of any piece of art and the act of creating that art too. And by joy I don't mean only something positive in the sense that it's all disney flowers and la-la-la...no I think there is an innate quality of upliftment in certain kinds of art that can be termed joy...it can be art that's full of grief or an experience of great outward pain (like weeping at a friend's funeral)...and yet you feel in some strange way touched by the benevolent other, the divine so to speak...and that's joy...and it's very very hard to feel in most of these modern online activities
I'm feeling this so hard right now. I miss the days of LiveJournal, even Myspace - where we'd write about our day to a handful of friends, fill out and share silly surveys, sharing poems and song lyrics and little digital camera photo shoots we did in our backyards.
I'm actually redoing my website right now with the goal of that being the place I share poems and digital collages and whatever my heart fancies, whenever it wants to. Not caring if anyone sees it. But it's there to stumble upon.
I bought Leonard Cohen breakfast - quite by chance - stranded at The Driskill Hotel in Austin Texas during Superstorm Sandy [all flights dashed]. He was dressed all in black. His hands felt like paper. His voice was unmistakable. I cannot for the life of me remember exactly what was said, only that he was exceptionally gracious and kind. On my way back to the suite I pulled the hotel restaurant server aside and quietly asked her to put his table on my bill. It was the very least I could do for a man who had been breaking the world's heart so beautifully for so long.
Thanks for this. Your insight into the shift in technology as it applies to present-day humanity and the commoditzation of same over the last decade is both fresh and properly excorating of that which has been lost. A fine hand.
Thanks a million for sharing this story! I'm so happy this happening to you and it tells so much about the kind and graceful person you must be too (which is to say, I can see why you were blessed with such an encounter)!!
Thank you for sharing this and that beautiful Leonard Cohen story. It made me both delighted and also made my insides scream "I want to go back there."
I tell my students every semester about when Google began, how you would search for something and discover along the way things you weren’t looking for. And that now you search online and find more of what you already looked for instead. SEO and its attendant algorithms are mind control, not about discovery. This is why putting creative work and ideas online is an act of revolution. Maybe we’re only talking to each other now but it’s a start. Two years ago I knew nothing about Chill Subs, Substack and more and now I’m in conversations that prove to me that not all hearts and minds are sedated into obedience. Right here, right now, for example. For every Shannan, there are hundreds of seedling Shannans out there waiting to be nudged into a little outlaw behavior. Much of the news these days is awful. But this part of it is good news. Be contagious.
Looking back to learn from the past is an important element of growth. And grief for what we’ve lost is unavoidable. But unless we become visionaries to reimagine the way we want our own writing and the context of social media to grow, we will continue in a doomed and painful direction. We are the numbers. We have all of the power. Money rules because we allow it to rule. The only place of peace I can find in this social media experience is to avoid buying advertised products, avoid subscribing to profitable writers who really write nothing of value here anyway, and develop my own small social group of lovers and writers and painters who see to the heart of one another. There are many like you Shannon who write from love, whether ecstatic or excruciating. Discernment. Hold the course. We can create a world within the world. It is what you are already doing, so please…give yourself a hug.❤️
Thank you for this thoughtful comment David -- it means a lot to have readers share and connect like this. I feel the same...tired of the noise, but still wanting to stay, to write, to make something that feels real. & I think you’re right: the only way forward is sideways. smaller circles, deeper roots... world within the world. Thank you for seeing that in what I’m trying to do. 💙
I think this is why I enjoy writing my blog so much each week. No expectations, just me recounting the week and offering up suggestions on things to do and sharing good news. I also do not use social media in the traditional sense. I use it to spread positivity and understanding, empathy and love.
I'm so glad you shared this. I did feel this. When I started my Substack. I felt I had to produce something every week. But something of importance. When sometimes, I didn't feel like I had that to give. So, I looked at it differently. Instead of getting hung up on likes and followers and paid subscriptions I made it free. That way, I didn't feel obligated. I post about twice a month when it feels right and I love it. Now, it's a fun place to share. Not a workspace. And oddly, it's never been more successful. I think people can feel it. Or maybe just cause it's free...who knows :)
I'm so glad you've come to a place in your writing and how you feel about Substack that it's become a fun place again. And absolutely, sooner or later for better or worse, people can see what we're really about.
I resonant with this so deeply. I’ve been finding it so hard to be consistent, and with that inconsistency comes guilt, maybe even fear — of missing the boat, becoming irrelevant. What started as inspiration has morphed into low level anxiety. It kinda sucks.
Exactly this! I miss the purity of the earlier age of social media - when it felt more connective and less performative. I don't know how to get that back, but it feels important to ponder.
Do you feel that platforms like Substack capture some of that or do you think we are too deep into this post-capitalist world to truly go back?
Definitely feels reminiscent in a lot of ways! I like how it forces me to slow down and consume more thoughtfully. I guess it feels like a slightly more polished version of early social media?
Yes but it's definitely colored by...today... 🫠
Technostress is so real. Getting off instagram as an influencer definitely reduced it for me, but it feels near impossible to escape
Wow, kudos to you for that Caroline! I feel it just by way of having to exist around devices, but can't do much about it tbh...so learning to find that soft fascination in between ha
This makes me miss the days when I was blogging in my early teens and I had no idea about followers, it was just me and my friends writing silly things, thoughtful things, and photo dumps from digital cameras.
I remember using blogspot and myspace (though I was in the time where it was on its way out and Facebook was the hot hip thing)
Shannan, to me, you’re one of those few people that has this gift that can change the world, that says out loud in your own brilliant way-- Huh, NO, what is this? (well, you might say, Huh, NO, WTF!). I for one am not the same person, am so much better, after reading your pieces, sometime pleas. Thank you. The last time I felt this was after reading Timi Sanni, OP Poet of the Week. You started this piece, really not with LC, but about when you met your now husband for the first time, Karan. I wish this world could go back to that, really meeting each other, I mean figuratively, the real deal, not all this technotrap, and rhymes with trap. Look what happened with a love like that? Again, thank you
As ever, I'm deeply grateful for your words Tara!
Thanks for mentioning Timi, I revisited some of his poems because of that, and was happier for it.
Also, your observation made me smile -- that I started the piece with K, not LC. You're so sweet and a wonderful reader. Thank you
I'm so glad you asked the question, "What about joy?" I've been reading Notes for about two months now, and the one thing I do notice is that there is an absence of joy. We know about the joy of sex and the joy of cooking, but what about the joy of writing? It seems to be lost in the dopaminergic obsession to get more views, more subscribers, and more exposure. Let's face the facts. Almost all of us here are amateurs, meaning we write because it's something we love to do. Only a scant few, the outliers, will ever be able to generate enough income to live on. In this forum, there are far too many one-trick ponies beating themselves to death, vainly chasing numbers. I would much rather hear about your joyful moments than listen to you wail away as you grind your axe. I guess this is something inherent to capitalism. In the obsessive fixation to monetize as much as possible, we lose something in the process: the simple joys of life, like writing and sharing a poem, a short story, an anecdote, or an essay.
Thank you Brian! Yes, I think that's the a deeply vital question to ask even if just to ourselves in the quiet of our own almost-sleep (and the like).
I think joy is an essential aspect of any piece of art and the act of creating that art too. And by joy I don't mean only something positive in the sense that it's all disney flowers and la-la-la...no I think there is an innate quality of upliftment in certain kinds of art that can be termed joy...it can be art that's full of grief or an experience of great outward pain (like weeping at a friend's funeral)...and yet you feel in some strange way touched by the benevolent other, the divine so to speak...and that's joy...and it's very very hard to feel in most of these modern online activities
And I love to just exist, it's my true self, just existing.
Reminds me of the ending of that Wendy Cope poem (The Orange) "I love you. I'm glad I exist." (hopefully I have the words right)
I'm feeling this so hard right now. I miss the days of LiveJournal, even Myspace - where we'd write about our day to a handful of friends, fill out and share silly surveys, sharing poems and song lyrics and little digital camera photo shoots we did in our backyards.
I'm actually redoing my website right now with the goal of that being the place I share poems and digital collages and whatever my heart fancies, whenever it wants to. Not caring if anyone sees it. But it's there to stumble upon.
Livejournal YESS and blogspot haha... Gosh I remember that time. And I love what you've described for your website. Please share it when it's ready. 💙
I bought Leonard Cohen breakfast - quite by chance - stranded at The Driskill Hotel in Austin Texas during Superstorm Sandy [all flights dashed]. He was dressed all in black. His hands felt like paper. His voice was unmistakable. I cannot for the life of me remember exactly what was said, only that he was exceptionally gracious and kind. On my way back to the suite I pulled the hotel restaurant server aside and quietly asked her to put his table on my bill. It was the very least I could do for a man who had been breaking the world's heart so beautifully for so long.
Thanks for this. Your insight into the shift in technology as it applies to present-day humanity and the commoditzation of same over the last decade is both fresh and properly excorating of that which has been lost. A fine hand.
Thanks a million for sharing this story! I'm so happy this happening to you and it tells so much about the kind and graceful person you must be too (which is to say, I can see why you were blessed with such an encounter)!!
This is so beautiful and I’m so very jealous of that experience. How wonderful you got to experience this ❤️
Thank you for sharing this and that beautiful Leonard Cohen story. It made me both delighted and also made my insides scream "I want to go back there."
Thank you for reading Susanna and I often feel this...I'm so glad that there are pieces of yesterday still alive today...I hope we never lose that
I tell my students every semester about when Google began, how you would search for something and discover along the way things you weren’t looking for. And that now you search online and find more of what you already looked for instead. SEO and its attendant algorithms are mind control, not about discovery. This is why putting creative work and ideas online is an act of revolution. Maybe we’re only talking to each other now but it’s a start. Two years ago I knew nothing about Chill Subs, Substack and more and now I’m in conversations that prove to me that not all hearts and minds are sedated into obedience. Right here, right now, for example. For every Shannan, there are hundreds of seedling Shannans out there waiting to be nudged into a little outlaw behavior. Much of the news these days is awful. But this part of it is good news. Be contagious.
YES!! I used to LOVE that so much. Gosh, you stoked a whole lotta nostalgia for me in just saying that.
Your note on the "hundreds of seedling Shannans" made me laugh out loud. Thank you, you're very encouraging and kind
Now it's all about $ and the # of followers....which is just wrong.
I wish I knew how to get off this thing....
Absolutely, Diane. Thank you for stopping by to read 💙
really appreciate this piece, putting words to very recent and distressing feelings of mine
I feel you friend 💙, thank you for reading
Looking back to learn from the past is an important element of growth. And grief for what we’ve lost is unavoidable. But unless we become visionaries to reimagine the way we want our own writing and the context of social media to grow, we will continue in a doomed and painful direction. We are the numbers. We have all of the power. Money rules because we allow it to rule. The only place of peace I can find in this social media experience is to avoid buying advertised products, avoid subscribing to profitable writers who really write nothing of value here anyway, and develop my own small social group of lovers and writers and painters who see to the heart of one another. There are many like you Shannon who write from love, whether ecstatic or excruciating. Discernment. Hold the course. We can create a world within the world. It is what you are already doing, so please…give yourself a hug.❤️
Thank you for this thoughtful comment David -- it means a lot to have readers share and connect like this. I feel the same...tired of the noise, but still wanting to stay, to write, to make something that feels real. & I think you’re right: the only way forward is sideways. smaller circles, deeper roots... world within the world. Thank you for seeing that in what I’m trying to do. 💙
I think this is why I enjoy writing my blog so much each week. No expectations, just me recounting the week and offering up suggestions on things to do and sharing good news. I also do not use social media in the traditional sense. I use it to spread positivity and understanding, empathy and love.
I'm so glad you shared this. I did feel this. When I started my Substack. I felt I had to produce something every week. But something of importance. When sometimes, I didn't feel like I had that to give. So, I looked at it differently. Instead of getting hung up on likes and followers and paid subscriptions I made it free. That way, I didn't feel obligated. I post about twice a month when it feels right and I love it. Now, it's a fun place to share. Not a workspace. And oddly, it's never been more successful. I think people can feel it. Or maybe just cause it's free...who knows :)
I'm so glad you've come to a place in your writing and how you feel about Substack that it's become a fun place again. And absolutely, sooner or later for better or worse, people can see what we're really about.
I resonant with this so deeply. I’ve been finding it so hard to be consistent, and with that inconsistency comes guilt, maybe even fear — of missing the boat, becoming irrelevant. What started as inspiration has morphed into low level anxiety. It kinda sucks.
Thank you Alexandra! The boat-missin fear is very real ovr here too, I try to ignore it most of these days