Day 2 - Sleeping with the enemy.

They label us 'Social Influencers,' but many of us prefer 'Content Creators' because our passion lies in creating, not in influencing others. 

Creating for people, though—that’s our jam (as the Gen Zers definitely don’t say).

A creator really wants only one thing, and it's right there in the name: to create.

Whether it's content, music, art, writing, websites, or films—it doesn't matter. The goal is to bring something tangible into existence from the quantum field.

Jusus, I just realised I’m basically the next... *keybord taping* -  Immanuel Kant!

Take this email, for example.

My mind is a whirlwind / sesspool of ideas—mostly terrible, a few half-baked, and sprinkled with limp humor. 

These concepts are approved, stamped, and passed down to my chubby little fingers, which frantically punch away at these little black squares, manifesting letters into existence which a few seconds ago didn't exist and will now in some tiny way go on to shape the whole future.

Your decision to read this blog has prevented you from doing something else, which will have a knock-on effect and lead to a different future emerging.

Creation is, at its heart, the process of shaping a new world—hopefully for the better.

But, of course, there’s always a dark side, isn’t there? Cue sinister stock music.

Most of what we create lives and dies on social media platforms, and we creators need these platforms to have their work seen or heard.

For a lot of us content creators, it feels a bit like we're climbing into bed with someone we don’t fancy—bin breath, dirty fingernails, someone who says ‘amazeballs’ on occasion. 

What’s worse is that, unfortunately, we need them far more than they need us, so... pucker up.

We want to create, not waste our time trying to second-guess algorithms, chase trends, or deal with the constant pressure to stay connected and visible.

Numbers are important because they enable us to create, but becoming fixated on chasing them can be the most stifling hurdle for a creator. 

All our best ideas are found in moments of stillness, seldom amid the chaos of notifications, alerts, and endless swiping.

Simply put, to create, we need to disconnect.

Now, I could say something trite like, “Why do we feel so disconnected when we’ve never been more connected?”—but I won’t. You deserve better than that.

We all know that the more we’re glued to our phones, the more our mental health suffers. Teens, in particular, are feeling the weight of it.

Allow me to digress for a moment.

Reflecting on my teen and young adult years before mobile phones, I realise my friends and I moved through life like ghosts. Our relationships, personal dramas, music preferences, protests, fashion, and adventures left almost no footprint. Nothing was tracked by algorithms, saved in the cloud, or recorded in any digital history—except for a few bent photos, water-damaged journals, letters, or fading graffiti on a bathroom wall. It was unimaginable that anyone, aside from us (or maybe our nosy parents), would care about the details of our lives.

 

The world didn’t notice us, and we had no idea how fortunate we were.

 

If us Gen X'ers and Millennials dodged a bullet by not having smartphones to record every mistake we made, then by the sounds of things, the Boomers dodged a nuclear bomb.

 

Let’s get back on track.

 

The first step to solving any problem is admitting you have one. So, do you have a problem with excess screen time?

 

Let’s do a test…

 

When was the last time you put your phone down and didn’t feel the urge to pick it up again five minutes later?

 
Over the next few posts, let’s dive into some simple, practical hacks to reduce your screen time, getting it down from a "Japanese schoolgirl level" to something more like a "Tibetan monk from the 1100s."

 

Stick around.

 

There’s plenty more to unpack.

 

Cheers,

Stef

P.S This blog is part of my new newlsetter series.

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