성공이란 무얼까요

여러분, quarantine 시기가 거의 끝나갑니다. 건강히 잘 계시는가요?

오늘은 하루종일 식물 가꾸기를 해서 즐거웠습니다. 토요일에도 옛날과는 다르게 (자기격리덕분에) 혼자서 집에서 오래 보내다 보니까 새로운 취미생활들을 발견하고 있습니다. 작년에도 한번 시도하다가 제대로 안됬는데요. 새싹들이 다 죽어버리다고구요 쉽게 ㅜㅠ 지금 있는 원베드룸 아파트에서는 창문유리가 너무 두꺼워서 그런지 아주 쉽게 새싹들이 죽어버립니다. 흐물흐물 … 금년에는 그래도 배우는 차원에서 또다시 시도했더니 재미를 들여서 매일매일 귀여운 식물들 가꾸는라 시간가는 줄 모르고 있습니다.

성공이란 단어의 의미를 다시 생각해봅니다. 책에서도 썼듯이 저는 현대사회의 성공의 의미는 너무나도 어긋났다고 생각됩니다. 소셜미디어도 요즘에 보면 follower 를 더 얻으려고 특히 젊은 사람들이 난리를 칩니다. 더 influencer 가 되려고. 더 TikTok famous 되려고. 그것이 2020년의 성공의 상징입니다. 저는 그것이 잘못됬다고 봅니다.

제 자신의 과거에 대해서 반성하기도 합니다. 솔직히 인스타그램을 즐길 때가 많습니다. 친구들과 경험을 공유하는 재미가 있는 것은 사실이지만 follower count 나 like 가 신경 쓰이는 것도 인간적인 마음입니다.더 유명해지기를 원하고 더 인정받고 싶은 욕심이 있습니다. 이기적인 생각이 아닐까 합니다. 제대로 다져진 기술이나 업적도 그다지 없는 상태에서 사람들에게 관심만 받고 싶은 욕심만 있으면 그냥 아무 쓸모없는 무용지물이 되지 않을까 생각됩니다. 그리고 기술이나 재능이 있다고 해도 그것을 자기자신의 clout 만을 위해서 쓴다면 사회에 무슨 소용이 있겠습니까?

소셜 미디어의 해로운 점들이 지난 수년간 연달아 발견되어 걱정됩니다. 시기와 비교 의식을 유발하는 점, 정신건강에 나쁜 영향을 주는 점. 정보적/정치적 차원에서 신뢰감이 없고 조작하기 쉬운 점. 악의를 지닌 사람들이 아주 manipulate 하기 쉽다는 점. 그런 점들을 우리가 더 명백하게 파악해서 social media 의 새로운 moral ethical code 가 탄생됬으면 하는 바램입니다.

장래의 세대는 social media 라는 발명에 크게 실망해서 반항을 할 것이라 추측합니다. 과거의 세대가 영상대신 라디오를 듣고 TV 채널도 고정된 한두가지만 (MTV 같이) 봤을 때가 있었듯이 대중의 취향은 시간이 갈수록 진화해 나갑니다. 지금은 워낙 유행이지만 미래에는 싫증과 식상함과 거부감이 오지 않을까요? 장래의 많은 이들이 social media 라는 미디어 채널 자체를 꺼리게 되지 않을까 생각합니다 (지금도 벌써 그러시는 분들이 많습니다). 아니면 정반대로 더욱 새로운 소셜 미디어 채널들에 계속해서 빠지는 분들도 많이 있겠죠. 하지만 저의 전반적인 바램은 우리들이 직접 소셜 미디어의 “best ethics” 와 바람직한 철학을 창조해 나가는 것입니다. “이렇게 하면 안된다,” “이런 콘텐츠는 어린 세대들의 건강에 나쁘다,” 그런 식의 “매뉴얼”을.

페이스북이나 인스타그램 혹은 TikTok 을 발명한 엔지니어들은 저의 롤모델입니다. 하지만 그들도 이 발명때문에 사회에 이런 영향을 미치게 될줄은 10년전에 상상도 못했을 것이 당연합니다.

기도합니다.

창의적인 사람

무언가를 찾아내고 발견해나가는 자기자신의 호기심과 소망이 없으면 인생은 언제나 똑같은 틀안에서 살아가게 된다. 내가 새로운 것을 시도하고 새로운 일들을 배우고 새로운 책들을 읽는게 중요하다. 지금 당장 코앞만 생각하면 절대로 원하는 창조적인 일이나 아이디어의 발굴을 해나갈수 없다. 오늘부터 더 내 자신의 장래성을 믿어보려고 한다. 창의성. 새로운 것은 가만히 있는다고 생겨나는 것이 아니라 매일 도전하는 사람들의 두뇌에서 생겨난다. 너무 틀안에서 만족해서는 안된다.

The brain is like a sponge, especially with pictures and images. It speaks directly to us. It absorbs and remixes in its own head. It’s easy to consume and see pictures. It’s another thing to make and create pictures. In a way, movies and pictures are a gift that jumps from one brain to another.

The Battle for Clout

Social media is devouring the world, especially vulnerable teenagers desperate for gaining more clout (likes and followers). We may still be underestimating the harmful effects of social media apps on the young. Joe Rogan had a great YouTube episode with a professor who showed a direct correlation in the steep rise of self-harm and depression/anxiety rates among teenage girls since the boom of social media (FB +Instagram) in 2011-2012, when kids started using iPhones. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI6rX96oYnY.

The reason may be that social media has brought strangers and neighbors closer together than ever before. But that heightened visibility doesn’t always equate to making more friends or feeling closer to people. Oftentimes, it breeds envy and contempt. It’s allowing yourself to be open to all kinds of content from strangers and neighbors popping up your in face all the time. And what do most people want? Attention. Likes. Approval. Fame. Success. And in the pursuit of that, the Creators might have actually lost the “needs” of its audience in mind. I wish Creators were posting content that the people NEED … instead of just posting to get attention.

The line is blurring between what it means to be a passive “Viewer/Audience” of TV/Online Media versus an active “Creator” of content, due to the explosion of channels like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and more. Back in the day, it was only those who were well-connected and handpicked by network TV execs that “made” it into the public spotlight through the power of media broadcasting. With the advancement of technology, “broadcasting,” literally the ability to broadly transmit your message, is becoming easier at an exponential rate. This is good news for some; not at all good news for others. With the power to be seen in front of thousands of people comes responsibility. The kind of responsibility rarely taught in schools or understood at all, because even adults often don’t grasp the neurological influence that visual media can have on you.

Take TikTok’s success as an example. I don’t just think of it as a fun app as they are marketing it to be. Isn’t it amazing how they are now everywhere in mainstream conversations with American teenagers? How were they so good at creating hype and gaining attention around its own creators? Perhaps the engineers designing its algorithms so that the videos that get the longest views and the highest number of views (addictive, provocative content) will get shown in front of people the most, to keep people coming back to TikTok everyday? Many teenagers, especially girls, are creating the kind of content that’s being exposed to people all over the world and actually suffering from hate comments, stalkers and more. Is that “good?” Is “TikTok Famous” a “good thing?”

In ancient East-Asian philosophy, there’s a saying that goes “a young kid who succeeds early will not die a good death.” It was known that when an extremely young person gains a prominent position in society (or perhaps in the “kingdom” at the time), that it’s very easy for them to become a target of hate, envy and detriment which derails their career later on. They end up creating enemies, making mistakes and stop growing, not fully grasping the preciousness of their success. Early success or becoming TikTok famous as a young person are seen as virtues here in the U.S, South Korea, and many other countries. There’s a problem there. Again, I hate to sound like a broken record, but the “definition of success” is being skewed because of these apps like TikTok.

I don’t think they had evil intentions in mind, whether it was Instagram, Facebook or TikTok. They were most of all engineers and tech entrepreneurs who made these apps. It’s not the fault of the “Technology Creators” that have made this possible. They are the last people who could have predicted that “bringing the world closer together” (FB’s mission) would not always be a good thing.

But the rules. The RULES and ETHICS of Responsible Media Sharing have to be rewritten and reenforced, even on social media. If you want to create on broadcasting platforms, every creator should know the responsibility to create the kind of content that people NEED … and will impact people in positive ways. And tech companies should not reward people for making addictive or shocking content just for the sake of gaining more attention or hype around it.

Because the content you share have an impact on the people around you. That’s not just for you to play with. To make yourself into a star. It means neurological impact for your audience. State of well-being. Self-talk. So We must provide the kind of story, narrative and visuals, that will improve people. Regardless of the number of likes and followers you gain from it.

The War of Social Media Domination

Bill Gates was right in that “Content is King,” and that it’s not exactly the engineers who create new hardware, applications and messaging protocols that have revolutionized the digital landscape.

You would think so, but that’s not exactly how it works. Yes, the engineers get their kudos for introducing something brilliant into the world, as they should. But then a new game begins. It’s a game for dominion over the new game. Who will leverage the strengths of this new platform, and become king/queen? And the interesting thing is, the game is open to the whole world, thanks to the Internet, and thus open for anybody who wants to fight for a claim to that title.

Imagine that an innovative engineer invents a new tool, maybe a new axe. And this new axe is so good that it can cut down anything. So the inventor sells a ton of these axes to regular people. And you would think that’s the end of this story. But no. Among the thousands or millions of these regular people who now have this amazing tool in hand, they can do whatever they want with it. In fact, it’s the one who creates the best “Use Case” with the axe that will win the most.

Whether the person uses this new tool for selfish gain, self-promotion or the good of the public … now that’s up to the person’s ethics. But most of the time, people just are fighting for the top spot … to claim all the rewards that come from being the top dog in this game. Individuals play. Businesses play. Corporations play. If you asked me, it’s a tool that shouldn’t be wielded lightly, and definitely not something that should solely be used for monetary gain.

Once somebody creates a new social world, like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok … it actually gives a whole new group of people “opportunities” to capitalize on the invention. And these people who create content don’t have to do anything with technology or messaging protocol or application development, or any of that nitty-gritty engineering details. They work with a different set of rules. And that game, to be honest, in essence is a game that has been played as long as we can remember. The game of “Impression Management.” The game of “Branding”. The game of Public Relations. The game of “Image Creation.”

It sure is interesting. The one that I wanna play and master.

Uniquely in my case, I do care about the impact of media toward its viewers, and am personally keenly aware of all the negative impact that can come from irresponsible movie producers and TV creators. That whatever people watch impacts them on a cerebral and neural level.

To create the kind of media that impacts people beneficially in all levels and guide them toward the path of truth, freedom and creativity