Passing One Thousand!

Last month I was able to mark the 500^th post on this blog. Today I was able to mark a slightly different but very similar occasion in that, between this blog and Getting Your Phil, I have published one thousand blogs since this all started in late May of 2013 (of course, there were a few blogs before that point as well). Obviously, the Phillies-centric blog came a little later and there were a few days missed here and there.

It’s interesting to think about all the different things that have been said, statements that have been made, and questions that have been posed throughout that plethora of posts. While there have been many occasions when I have repeated myself and even the entire subject matter of the post but there have been a wide variety of things that have been said. Some have been good, some bad, but they are all out there just for the heck of it.

Tonight I ran into the new guy working at the front desk of our apartment building and over the natural course of introducing ourselves we found that we had the common interest of blogging. However, it was interesting to hear the different perspectives that we each had for doing this. While I write this largely rambling posts for the sake of writing and attempting to maintain my creativity, limited as it may now be, he has diverged into the for profit model.

It was this shift in his perspective that has caused him to lose the passion he once had for sharing his art and perspective to his community. The graphic arts, like writing, requires a passion for the practice rather than a desire to get paid. If the money follows that is just a bonus, but it cannot be the motivating factor that keeps you posting blog posts day after day.

I really hate when I see this same thing happen to creative people over and over again. The money gets in the way of the passion leaving them grasping for anything that they can get a hold of and doing all they can to maintain an ember burning. All too often, I have seen heat within them completely extinguished. We must maintain our passions and focus our energy on the creative process not the possibilities of monetary gain.

Money is not the means by which to measure the creative process. If we lose focus on that which we are creating we can no longer truly commit ourselves to our art (regardless of media or genre). One thousand blogs and that remains my motivation… that and providing proof that yes I did exist. But you already read about my true motivation in keeping this daily blog.

Darn You YouTube!

I find YouTube to be a great social media site to find videos on a wide variety of topics. It really doesn’t matter what you are looking for whether it is a how to project, movies, political speeches, classroom lectures, or simply a cat barking like a dog you can, for the most part, find it on YouTube. In fact, I think I have looked up at least one thing in each of those categories.

However, there is a dark side to YouTube. It is an aspect shared by many sites both of a social nature and otherwise. The downside is very simple; YouTube can be a tremendous time suck if you are not paying attention. And that is just for those of us watching the videos, who knows how much time some people invest in their visual projects (I know for a fact that a few people to whom I am subscribed invest hours and sometimes days to every post they make).

YouTube is a primary example of the potato chip effect… you can’t just watch one video. You can goes days or weeks without visiting the site but on those occasions that you find yourself pressing play it takes a tremendous amount of self control and will power to keep within a proper portion. Admittedly, on a few occasions I have gone on the site with the intention of watch a single video and an hour or more later I left feeling bloated, lazy, and unproductive.

Social Media in general can cause intellectual obesity where you are taking in a lot of information but it is not the right information, it is not a health mix that we need to sustain our minds and think at optimal efficiency. Facebook, Twitter, and even LinkedIn can have the same effect, all in varying degrees but to your detriment nevertheless. Moderation, just like many things in life, is the key to the healthy use of social media.

However, there is an aspect to this site that is frequently overlooked. YouTube is a tremendous asset for preserving memories both of current events but also the accounts of older family members about your own heritage. This is a tool that needs to be leveraged by genealogy researchers in over to add depth to the leaves on the tree and voice to past generations. You can make videos public or keep them private with only family members having access through a direct link. Use this as a tool not just for entertainment but for education of others and the preservation of history.

Don’t let social media be a burden. Use it to enhance life rather than replace it. Be the one to live life rather than watch someone live theirs. Enjoy what this world has to offer and share it with others because experience is the best way to increase your knowledge and broaden your understanding off all that surrounds you and everything that makes you who you are.