Building Online vs. Building Offline

Howdy,

Last week I touched upon building online vs. building offline.

I want to dig deeper into that here by breaking down the power of machines, the state of digital, and how to combat digital hyper-consumption.

The Power of Machines

Digital products are immensely valuable because you can scale them using the power of machines.

For instance, I was randomly made aware that my podcast is currently top 25 on Apple Podcasts in the Czech Republic under the Entrepreneurship category.

I don't know anyone there. I've never been there. But my voice is traveling there while I'm sleeping because of the power of machines.

My podcast is working for me 24/7. Anyone, at any time, at any place in the world can listen to it.

Imagine trying to explain this concept to an ancient scholar.

If this doesn't seem wild, it's because we're desensitized to the tech around us.

The State of Scale

The scale that machines provide has led to incredible opportunities and a dangerous consequence.

Incredible Opportunity:

• Create/produce music, podcasts, or films

• Distill/share your thoughts through online writing

• Watch YouTube video tutorials and develop new skillsets

• Access and read ancient texts on philosophy, art, and religion

The Dangerous Consequence:

• Digital Hyper-Consumption - the same machines that scale our ability to create and learn have hijacked our attention for cheap content & inauthentic community

The Effects of Digital Hyper-Consumption

We've all fallen into the digital hyper-consumption trap - particularly through endless scrolling on social media & comparing our lives to someone else's highlight reel.

Consumption is natural and necessary in order to balance out creativity, but digital hyper-consumption plagues our creativity in the following ways:

• Time - habitually looking at screens eats up hours of our day

• Sleep - artificial blue light throughout the day and night affects our sleep patterns

• Insecurity - images of what we "should" be doing, what we "should" look like, or places we "should" be going make us question if the lives we're presenting on a screen are enough

Suddenly, we don't have the time, energy, or security to be creative.

Combatting Digital Hyper-Consumption

Digital hyper-consumption is predicated on algorithms that optimize for engagement.

In other words, platforms profit from keeping our eyes on the screen, and the tools that were designed for us to use are using us.

So how do we take back control?

We fight digital hyper-consumption by building things that don't scale.

Make time for that hobby that engages creative parts of our brain and leads to healthy consumption.

That way, you can leverage the power of machines on your terms when you return back to the screen.

Thanks for reading

Go build something offline that doesn't scale,

Josh