Thoughts on Long-form Content on Gemini

Writing long essays is fun. It's enjoyable to be able to express an idea, work on it a bit, mold it, pull out the imperfections, and show it off to the world. It can feel like a timeless accomplishment, rather than a temporal quip on social media.

When I first joined Gemini, I was disappointed by the lack of medium-to-long length posts. Everything seemed shorter than the blogs I read on the Web. I liked Gemini because I could sit down and read thousands of word in a sitting and really consider them, unlike the intensity of the attention-hungry Web. It was freeing, and fit with my growing fascination with "simplicity. For me, Gemini is the equivalent of a quiet hiding place where I can read for hours and contemplate what the authors are saying.

Writing is one of my favorite things to do, and Gemini enables be to write longer posts than I have elsewhere, simply because I don't have to worry about the presentation layer. I just focus on what I want to say, rather than the aesthetics of the rendered page. This is surmountable on the Web, of course. I could get over it, but Gemini removes that barrier completely.

Of course, I spend all my time figuring out how to organize my capsule instead.

Whenever I sit down to write, like with this post, I want to write something fulfilling that will inspire others or let them see the topic differently than before. I don't want to just share what I've been doing or a vague opinion. That's really not that interesting.

Aggregators like Antenna are useful for finding content, but they tend to keep us thinking linearly, and on what is new rather than what is timeless.

Ever since I started checking Antenna regularly, I stopped my casual walks through Geminispace. I would find various capsules set about, all with gems to enjoy. Antenna standardizes reading, which stifles diversity. I love little capsules that are organized creatively, that don't self-promote, and wait patiently for unsuspecting visitors to admire their beauty. They produce sense of adventure, peace, and appreciation.

We should be free to think before we speak, and be proud of what we write, to not be afraid to be inspiring rather than enraging.

It's difficult to express deep emotions when bombarded with hundreds of voices in a day. Your brain shifts to defend itself against the horde instead of appreciating each individually. The modern Web distracts us towards its own ends, often unintentionally. It gets very loud there.

Gemini capsules are sweetest when they are "capsules", not wreckage strewn out and divorced from the context of the whole. The best capsules are more-or-less self-contained: mini expressions of a human being. They share thoughts with the world.

Competition kills creativity. It is another distraction that puts limits rather than empowers. Competition turns walking into a race, talking into a screaming contest. Creativity prospers under lack of constraints.

"Creative mode" in Minecraft is defined by its lack of restrictions. You don't have to find food, run from zombies, or even be bound by gravity. The drive to create isn't connected to the need to survive.

Innovation necessary for survival can spur creativity, but only as a possible side effect. People do build amazing things in survival mode, but only after all their other needs are met.

Distractions kill creativity. External pressures limit it. Creativity thrives with freedom. Molding it to fit a standard like "marketability" doesn't work well. It tends stifle itself in some way or another.

What should be done about this? I'm not sure, but it's helpful to realize what's affecting us, consciously and subconsciously, as we write to those on Gemini, and to the rest of the world.

~ Josias, 2022-04-30 (CC-BY-NC)

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Boundaries (a follow-up)