"It feels icky that creators are rewarded for brain hacking instead of quality. I feel this way a lot of the time. Still, you gotta acknowledge that this is what consumers want." That's because it *is* icky, and what you do next after acknowledging it's what people want matters *a lot*.
Just because people want it doesn't mean you (or others) should give it to to them, it depends on your goals. Is profit pretty much all that matters to you? Or "engagement", for whatever reason? Great, yep, do it. But not all mediums are equal for every message, every type of content, every underlying goal. The medium, if not "being" the message, at least significantly affects it and its meaning.
If what you want to do as a content creator is communicate meaningful and actionable insights on sometimes complex business topics that others are often missing, even *if* you were able to compress that into a 60 second video, you have to wonder if the people engaging with that would actually take it in, or would they lose it immediately as the next 60 second video demands their attention. Would they benefit from it as much as an in-depth read? Almost certainly not.
People may *want* the 60s video, but people want drugs, excess sugar, gambling, and a ton of other things that are only healthy in moderation *at best*. It's a typical moralizing argument but that doesn't make it any less true. Individual agency can't be a reasonable out when you're using a platform that relies on a mechanism that intentionally subverts the psychological underpinnings of true agency. "I've drugged you with a sedative, but don't worry, you can leave any time" is literally a direct comparison, as exaggerated as that sounds.
"It feels icky that creators are rewarded for brain hacking instead of quality. I feel this way a lot of the time. Still, you gotta acknowledge that this is what consumers want." That's because it *is* icky, and what you do next after acknowledging it's what people want matters *a lot*.
Just because people want it doesn't mean you (or others) should give it to to them, it depends on your goals. Is profit pretty much all that matters to you? Or "engagement", for whatever reason? Great, yep, do it. But not all mediums are equal for every message, every type of content, every underlying goal. The medium, if not "being" the message, at least significantly affects it and its meaning.
If what you want to do as a content creator is communicate meaningful and actionable insights on sometimes complex business topics that others are often missing, even *if* you were able to compress that into a 60 second video, you have to wonder if the people engaging with that would actually take it in, or would they lose it immediately as the next 60 second video demands their attention. Would they benefit from it as much as an in-depth read? Almost certainly not.
People may *want* the 60s video, but people want drugs, excess sugar, gambling, and a ton of other things that are only healthy in moderation *at best*. It's a typical moralizing argument but that doesn't make it any less true. Individual agency can't be a reasonable out when you're using a platform that relies on a mechanism that intentionally subverts the psychological underpinnings of true agency. "I've drugged you with a sedative, but don't worry, you can leave any time" is literally a direct comparison, as exaggerated as that sounds.