Perceived Value

Long form content bingeing and how it has warped my perception of "value" in the form of long posts and my challenge to say a lot with a little because time is precious.

Over these last three or so years, I've tried to break my YouTube bingeing habit. In doing this, I discovered a lot of what makes me want to be more mindful about how I spend my time online and the way these things have warped my mentality when it comes to a creation's value.

I watched a mix of standard length and long form content there, though some thoughts I had for each of the sub-categories of content I consumed were:

• Educational:
Just use the resources they used (linked in the description), there is a lot of waffling on, or background info said to be for context but rarely changes much of the experience if ignored.

This also helps me to break out of the hive-mind mentality, favoring the checking of (good)sources, credibility, and deep consideration.
There are some niche videos where the info comes from the person's own discovery, though I've excused some of these, or find the thing that inspired their idea.
A lot of these types also are promoting their own books etc. which I feel would be a more reliable medium as YouTube videos aren't forever.

• Commentary:
Typically, these are actually just overviews with very little mention of the persons opinion or thoughts related to what is being covered.

These were the ones I indulged in most as it felt good seeing someone talk about media I like, but I realized that not much is being added to the conversation, and ultimately, I'm wasting time unless watching these while I craft.

These types are what I locked my mind to believing had higher "value" due to the lengthy duration - though what broke me out of this was realizing that after watching, I never really came away from it with new knowledge or just felt drained or like I could've had fun doing something else.

"Value" is subjective and depending on who you ask, convenience and concision can raise the value.

I personally don't mind long videos/media if it is packed full of what I came for; if I come to laugh, I want a lot of laughs, if I come to learn, I want a lot of (quality) information.

I blab a lot and struggle with concision and simplicity, though I think there is a lot to admire about well edited/constructed pieces that feel well rounded and dive into what it needs to, mindfully, rather than for the sake of padding and filler.

It makes me feel like I'm spending my time wisely and in this, I wish to create mindfully, not just things I'd find value in, but things that can be enjoyed by others.
It has shown me the importance of a draft, of editing, and I want to train my hand to skim off the fat. I have now gained an interest in exploring short form media like stories, poems, short films etc. as a means of seeing how each creator decides to tell their story within constraints.

I admire the (self-proclaimed) value born by hand of the creators, there's a lot of work that goes into knowing what to include and what to leave out, to ensure what is desired is achieved; what one feels is necessary for the piece.
Even now, I feel myself trying to waffle on to pad out this post as if it being a long blabber means it'll be more valuable to the reader, it's like the shortness makes me worry that it may be insignificant, which is silly.
In this, I now want to challenge myself to write up an information-focused piece with a word count to normalize this for myself, in an attempt to unlearn this.

I don't want my cakes to be full of everything the kitchen has to offer.