Here for the people, the real people

There's still good places on the Internet. This is one of them.

I really love writing like this again!

This newsletter feels good. Every post so far has fostered more real, human connection than anything I’ve posted on the Internet in years. Offline conversations, comments, shares, rekindled acquaintances, and—with no intention at all—some work already. It’s nice to find the folks that want to hear my perspective and dive a little deeper than social media posts and the unrealistic positivity that comes with it.

I’ve always felt at-home with writing. A natural aptitude that turned into a college education and now a career. My work is all-over-the-place but always comes back to clear communication and the ability to get ideas across. Words are crucial for the work I do, as much as I often wish I was good with numbers instead—I’d probably make a lot more money.

This side of “online” is wonderful.

The Internet I grew up on was LiveJournal, AIM, Xanga, MySpace, and Tumblr. Not all of it was good then either but the bad parts were easier to ignore and not leveraged in their entirety to sell advertisements.

Facebook-pixelated trash aside, I loved writing and what the Internet meant to me when this was taken in 2013. I lived in the library and tutored a ton.

What we have digitally today is such a farce.

Facebook has expertly created a platform that breeds division, screen addiction, and vitriol at every turn while simultaneously being the only resource to reliably find a restaurant’s hours of operation.

Twitter (I deleted my account as soon as ‘X’ came around, so I’m not calling it that) was at one point a shining city of media coverage and conversation where quick wit and concise language prevailed. Now it houses a few fringe factions of politically-charged wannabe “alphas” and bots-talking-to-bots, all led by a billionaire with a sincere misunderstanding of free speech.

And AI…everywhere. Every platform pushing their own version of it and warming the planet to deliver diluted versions of writing and imagery to the increasingly-tolerant masses.

Getting back to real words for real people feels incredible.

I love it here. My hope with this project is that I can turn it into a force for good and one that allows me to get off some of social media while still maintaining my work trajectory.

Despite seeing all the downsides of it, I use social media to build a lot of things. I try to get in and get out these days to avoid the terrible parts of it. It’s never been easier to build online and the platforms are excellent places to grow and spread ideas—that’s why the bad ideas are there in droves.

I wonder what my lifetime value of social media has been. Certainly, huge parts of my career have been made easier with the big platforms. Heck, I buy ads! I’m the very evil that the platforms are beholden to.

We’ve built whole businesses and grown so many on these platforms. The money I’ve helped people make by marketing on social media must easily be well into the seven figures by now. That doesn’t change the fact that I’m ready to be off them as soon as I can be.

So, just quit social media if you hate it so much?

For now, quitting isn’t in the cards. I’m staying right here, putting far more energy into these good places on the Internet and only wading out into the wasteland to work. I use social media to my benefit and the benefit of those I help—nothing more. That’s, of course, a lie: I succumb to the same addictive parts of it that everybody else does. But I’m trying.

I’m profoundly grateful to you all that have been so welcoming to this new Pace of Life project. Hearing from a dozen people every post that these ideas resonated or they’re glad I’m doing it is better than any number of likes and comments I could ever receive.

Keep holding on as I develop this, please, and we’ll see what I can make it into. I have some big ideas for it. For now, I’m just staying consistent by writing once a week and doing what I’m able.