The brevity is, but ephemeral
Why brevity? We live in a liquid world with few words. The thousands of impacts we are subjected to every day force us to focus on what we think "really matters". The economy of care is installed in our lives.
The question is is that positive?
Ethis is the sixth of the trends I pointed out a few days ago in the post Trends: 2020 Personal Branding.
- The first: The impulse of social conscience and personal brand
- The second: When facts are imposed on such
- Third: From influencers to influentials (a substantial change)
- The fourth: Don't think (Only) on Google, think about your customers
- The Fifth: Don't let technology step on you, use it to your advantage
If you have little time, I invite you to watch this one-minute video summary:
Index
Priority and economy of care
I did a quick reading course and read "War and Peace in 20 minutes". It's about Russia (Woody Allen)
If a time traveler were to land now in a big city, you would be surprised to see thousands of people taken away by looking at a contraption in their hands. The king of attention is called a smartphone, and has managed to get us on average three hours a day of the sixteen that we're awake.
According a BBC News article, we consulted the smartphone some 150 times a day. Apple says we unlock iPhone some 80 times. And if it's an Android, the number increases up 110.
The same article notes that "the explosion of social media has made it possible for us to know in real time what people do at all times". The disorder of the 21st century is the FOMO, acronyms for Fear Of Missing Out (afraid to miss something).
Brevity is attached to speed, a cocktail that turns us into zombies
A few months ago I was able to see at a TEDxEixample event the writer and consultant Carl Honoré, author of "Praise of Slowness". I recommend this book to recover flavors, words, feelings and why not, a life just as effective but something more contemplative.
We strive to get things done faster to be more efficient, but we pay a very high price for subjecting ourselves to a breakneck and uncontrolled pace of life. Carl Honoré.
The importance of context
One of the problems I associate with this explosive mixture of brevity and speed is the loss of context, and therefore, of the real meaning of some complex concepts.
Not many weeks ago, Cristina Aced reminded us of the importance of context in an unfortunate Hawkers brand campaign for Halloween. In that campaign, Cristina received an SMS message from a Vlad with the text "two nights ago I was following you". Against a backdrop of raped herds and women, the message could be anything but fortunate.
Whether it's lack of context (Brevity) or because of design errors (Hawkers), communication fails.
Recovering sensations
I know, the depth not epata, but gives drop-by-drop results continuously. Let's choose our format. And keep in mind that a long content, even if it may not give short results, can bring more value than an inspiring phrase or an ephemeral genius.
Let's not be in such a hurry.. Good stew takes time. And even a niguiri perfect salmon requires the experience of a master "sushi" who has needed a year to select the best raw material, another year to cut it and another to prepare it. Sometimes, the tip of the iceberg looks like the whole, and we don't see what's underneath.
I don't know whether to pose it as a personal claim or trend, but recover those long poems, those songs that tell stories, those books that help you understand how we work, should be back on the table.
cover image: Sad World Video | Phone Addiction | Mad World. Le Tismey. YouTube
- The content remains the king of the jungle 2.0 - 18 January, 2020
- The brevity is, but ephemeral - 11 January, 2020
- The worst thing about 2019 Personal Branding - 3 January, 2020
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..fully aligned with the idea you express.
A hug!
d.
Thanks, David, I think I suspected it.. We'll have to reread “War and peace” in quiet version. ;-)