I’m Exhausted from Looking At the Same Feed Every Few Days
I didn’t think I would pay $5 a month for a feed with very similar articles.
Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous — Bill Moyers
Lately, I’ve seen the same types of articles on Medium. They take many forms: the “I Just Lost X Amount of Followers,” the Who’s Who of the top 2,000 that got the bonus, and the “stop the self-improvement” posts.
This is just the current batch of similar stories populating Medium, but this is not the first time I’ve noticed similar topics.
Medium makes changes. They are perfectly capable of releasing information on their changes. However, for some reason, I see at least 30 or more posts in a range from writers I barely know to the big names. Everything is included here: whining, speculated reasons why, what writers should focus on going forward.
I get it that when Medium makes changes, it’s easy to write about the change as your daily post. However, I didn't sign up to read these posts, even if they have nuggets of usefulness.
There’s one reason I didn’t choose to write about either change: I didn’t want to add to the noise. Of course, I lost followers too, but I don’t want fake followers. I also got the $100 bonus last month- which really helps with car repairs- thanks, Medium! However, in my opinion, the platform did not need one more post on the same subject.
The “stop the self-improvement” articles seemed a bit much for me. Yes, it’s not compelling when the same information is spewed. However, people have been pushing the same information for years about other topics. I can’t count the number of similar posts I’ve read throughout the web based on fashion, writing advice, or any different topic.
It comes down to how you write it. If you’re just stringing together ideas that already exist and writing about them a few days later, that’s one thing. It’s another thing to write about your personal experience or present something that hasn’t been overstated.
I do believe that ideas can hit people at the same time. In her book, Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert shares how an idea for a novel came to her. She had the idea for over a year but did not have the time to write it. Eventually, the idea left her. She ran into an old writing friend sometime later who was working on a novel. It was the same idea Gilbert had had, only with her friend’s unique twist.
It’s also happened to me. I want to write an article on visualization. I’m a huge fan of the Miracle Morning practice, created by Hal Elrod. Visualization is what I have the most trouble with. A few days ago, I saw a post on how to visualize. I still plan on researching, experiment, and writing up my findings soon.
However, there is a big difference between inspiration striking a few people at once and mass coverage of the same topic. I can handle a few posts now and then on the same subject. Just please add something different to the mix.
When I fell in love with Medium two years ago, there were few articles on the same subject. I came to love it because I found different articles that expressed different viewpoints and topics. Some were about the craft of writing/Medium, some personal stories that made me feel less alone, some were about self-help and experimentation and lessons learned. The platform was not just about these subjects, but they are the ones I remember most strongly.
The only solution I can offer is to explore your own stories. Don’t follow trends. I would much rather read about your road trip, experience with karate, or five important lessons you’ve learned from your first year of marriage. I want to be inspired by the determination that paid off while you were climbing a mountain. Tell me how you cheat on your creative diet or process. Teach me something fresh as a fellow human being.
If you bring something unique to the table, usually I’ll read it. Break past the mundane and what everyone else is talking about.
