I Broadcast, I Don’t Receive

I received an interesting email from a fan of the Onyx Truth asking me as to why I don’t really interact with the fans/readers of the site either directly on the Onyx Truth or through the various forms of social media.  My only legit response was:  I broadcast, I don’t receive.  Meaning, I’m here to put my thoughts out either through written or audio mediums (Onyx Truth Podcast).  Sometimes I just want to say some shit, put it out there on the internet, & let what may happen happen…for better or for worse.  Lately, I’ve begun to truly understand exactly why I choose to do this.  I’m not dissing or ignoring my fans per say.  Truthfully, I’m trying to master explicit control over what I allow to enter my mind.  Sounds a little crazy, possibly, but allow me to explain below…

Your Brain Is A Sponge

We are all familiar with the terms conscious & subconscious as it relates to the brain, correct?  Well, if not, basically your mind processes information in 2 specific ways:  directly (consciously) & indirectly (subconsciously).  Directly meaning you are fully aware of your surroundings, the sights, the sounds, the interactions, the messages; all of your fully functioning senses are engaged on a specific subject(s).  Indirectly meaning, all of the sights, sounds, interactions, messages, etc that you are not directly paying attention to are still engaging your senses & ultimately your mind.  Think of the subconscious mind working this way:  if someone were to ask you what is your favorite brand of soda, chances are without even thinking you would respond by saying Coca-Cola.  Why?  Simple.  Coca-Cola is the most popular & advertised brand of soda in the entire world.  Everywhere you go, no matter what city you are wandering, there is a high probability that you will encounter someone drinking a Coke or see some type of marketing material with the Coca-Cola logo…I’m not kidding, I spent a year of my life on a remote FOB in Afghanistan a few years back; there were Coca-Cola signs everywhere out there too.  So with Coca-Cola being the most popular & advertised drink, these images are captured by your subconscious mind on a regular basis whether you realize it or not.  You might see a Coke logo out of the corner of your eye, even though you are not directly paying attention to the presence of the logo, that small glimpse of the logo was enough for that Coke logo to register inside of your subconscious mind to inform you that something that has to do with Coca-Cola is in the vicinity incase you become thirsty later on for a nice cold drink.  So in essence, that is the basic gist of how the subconscious & conscious minds work.  If you have a better explanation, feel free to share it in the comments.

Getting Back To The Subject…

I’ll admit, like plenty of other people, I’ve become addicted to social media.  I’ve become addicted to receiving alerts notifying me of social media activity.  I’ve become addicted to receiving LIKES (Facebook), +1’s (Google+), hearts (Instagram), & stars (Flickr), etc for whatever form of media I choose to present to the world.  I’ve written about this on the Onyx Truth before to a certain degree, but sad to say, I’m not even immune to the desire for appreciation be it genuine or false.  Deep down inside everyone wants to feel some love.  Instead of staying focused & working really hard to prove to the world why you should be loved, social media allows us all to bypass those steps & receive instant gratification which a lot of use a measure of “success”.  Even worse than being addicted to the instant gratification is truly believing that the instant gratification IS TRULY A FORM OF LEGITIMATE SUCCESS.  Fortunately I have not crossed that threshold into believing I am more than what I currently am simply because I’m getting more LIKES than the next man.  But A LOT of people DO believe that shit wholeheartedly.

As this relates to my initial opening about whether or not I interact with fans; I do, occasionally.  The thing is, I’ve allowed myself to get into some very heated discussions online due to some of the things I’ve written about.  Some of those debates have actually spilled over into the real world where I found myself continually arguing about shit that was absolutely pointless to begin with long after I logged off of my device.  I understand that the Onyx Truth is currently just a blog and the general consensus is that people MUST interact with readers of their blog or people MUST interact with people that choose to engage them on social media, but that’s where a lot of the problems begin in my opinion.  I understand the concept of social media meaning that social equates to people conversing back & forth about whatever; which I do.  But when it comes to the Onyx Truth, realistically, I’m here to channel my thoughts, put it out the the world, hopefully you all read it, then let it do what it do with minimal interaction from me.  Basically, whatever I’ve written or spoken about courtesy of the Onyx Truth Podcast, that’s how I feel or feel for the moment.  I’m presenting something to you, for your entertainment only.  What you choose to do with it after that is strictly up to you.  At the end of the day, this is my platform to just let my thoughts roam free & hopefully encourage you all to engage in some type of dialogue.  It’s not meant to be a diss, it’s just….I got a lot of shit to write & speak about and one of the ways I can effectively focus on putting out this content is by not directly engaging (all of the time) the reactions & responses to whatever it is I may be putting out to the world.  Simply put, I’m a content creator…I HAVE TO CREATE CONTENT or else I’m liable to lose my damn mind.  For consumers of content whom don’t necessarily create a lot of content beyond the occasional tweet or Facebook status, this might seem like a strange & foreign concept, and that’s totally understandable.  I’m just trying to really channel my thoughts & block out all of the unnecessary stimuli so I can effectively create.

To sum it up, I do interact & will continue to interact, but probably not to the level that some may expect me to.  Quite frankly, I’m trying to minimize my time online so I can get back into this thing we call the real world, to live & experience real world experiences that actually have a direct impact on my life.  One of the ways I plan to do this is by limiting my social media time to 30 minutes a day (if that).  Checking social media, constantly checking for comments on my website, etc…that shit can become overwhelming & turn into a HUGE distraction over time.   By me not engaging in a lot of the bullshit that I’m sure is bound to arise from my writings, podcasts, or social media activity; that is 1 step I can manage that has a direct impact on what I choose to allow to enter my mind which can then affect other shit somehow someway.

Meh…maybe I’m just tripping & reading more into this shit more than need be, who knows.