Medium
Do You Read Full Articles?
Why waste time skimming?
My medium friend Susan Wheelock voiced a concern in her recent piece: she said:
I’m worried that the 30-second rule has created a class of readers that stay on the page for just 30 seconds, then bolt. This doesn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy. What are we pouring our hearts out for if we’re only going to get 30 seconds of someone’s time?
Her article got me wondering if there are many readers who just drive by without actually reading our articles. A skim, a highlight and a comment and then they’re out.
When you think about this, it’s kinda sad. Fact is, we’re all spending time on Medium. Time that we absolutely can’t get back. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.
In her piece today, pockett dessert said:
You cannot undo what you traded yourself for yesterday.
That stayed with me. We trade bits of ourselves — something precious, our very life force as measured by time — to read articles written by others who willingly share their own life force with us in return.
What then is the point in skimming away from someone’s article, having gained nothing but the hope other writers will come to read our work? What makes us so willing to receive exactly what we deny others: time?
It sure feels like skimming isn’t far from scamming doesn’t it? It’s taking advantage of the kindness of others for our own benefit. As Susan said, it doesn’t give us warm fuzzies.
What’s the solution?
It’s the same solution we all eventually come up with. Medium works when we genuinely engage with the content we’re reading. It works even better when you know/have some degree of friendship with the people you read.
It’s unavoidable when you genuinely read someone’s writing. Their character comes through their words. Who they are as human beings, what their values are. Their light shines through.
How many times have you thought to yourself — that you could be real friends with the people you regularly read? For me it’s almost daily.
If I could advise any new members on the platform, don’t shortchange your experience. Medium has managed to bring us together for just fleeting moments in our lives.
And we exchange those moments for connections to the hearts and minds of the people we read. That’s why we’re here. It’s not about making bank, though that will come.
We’re trading our time for connection. Nothing less will satisfy. When the connection doesn’t matter, any words will do when it comes to writing your own articles.
That’s why some folks try to get Artificial Intelligence to write for them or to summarize articles for fast but empty comments. They believe words are a quick way to their wallets.
But writers will tell you: words are funny things. They stay with you. They affect you in ways you don’t get to immediately see. They teach you. Remind you. Take you back and forth across time.
Words can heal you. Words can hurt you. They allow hearts to speak to each other directly, even bypassing our minds in the process.
In this way, words are the closest thing we have to real magic and it’s what’s missing in articles written by Ai. It’s also what we lose when we skim other’s articles.
When we read, we get a rare opportunity to share the thoughts of others. To walk with them. To feel the shape of their shoes as we go on the journeys their words have created for us.
Why waste the magic? Why trade our lives for anything less? No amount of money will be worth it in the end.
Just thinking out loud on a cold Winter’s night and sending warm hugs your way. Walk good, Mitch.
p.s. If you don’t already follow Susan and Pockett, you won’t find more genuine readers on Medium. Check out their pages. To me they’re awesome. Just sayin’. And thanks guys for inspiring me to write this article. Your words are more powerful than you know. M.