It’s fairly easy to get started in social media. But constantly learning, expanding, and evolving your skills as the social software universe expands is harder. A doctor or architect’s tools and materials might change every several years… but the social media game changes every several months.
Homouroboros Art installation – Burning Man Festival 2007. image: Tristan Savatier
Social Media’s “Upward Progressive Spiral”
Why does it move so fast? Technology (especially social software) is driven by what cyberneticists and biologists call positive feedback. It never returns to a steady state but constantly seeks a new equilibrium at a higher energy level. Unlike family life and politics – which tend to operate in cycles – technology is driven by upward spiraling, “progressive” current with infinite tangents and no brakes or down time. As the online population expands, so does the number of new problems and individual desires — along with the number of new engineers and innovators expanding the space. The digital universe starts to pop “off the chart” rather quickly.
Neophobes vs. Neophiles
A neophile at Burning Man 2005. Image: Tristan Savatier
According to cyber-philosopher Robert Anton Wilson, there are two basic types of human minds. Neophobes are the traditional majority who instinctively dislike new things and change – because they associate new experiences as “unsafe” or anxiety producing. They do well in traditional professions, conservative religions and political movements, law enforcement, military and government bureaucracies. Neophiles are people who like new ideas, technologies and experiences. Social media adepts are digital neophiles – people who have evolved high-bandwidth, multi-tasking minds. Their ravenous information addiction and lust for novelty spurs to them to learn new technologies quickly – for the immediate gratification and positive feedback it brings them.
Tips For Staying Mentally Fresh, Flexible and Vigilant
If you discovered this article through social media, you’re probably already a neophile and an early-adopter. But you are now being blitzed with more new information to digest than any other human in history, at a faster pace. Unless you can step past the “normal human” mode and train your mind to keep expanding and adopting new ideas and tools, without getting stuck or lazy… you run the risk of burning out and fading into irrelevance in a few short years. Here are some tips for finding and embracing important ideas and trends early on:
- Follow Trendsetters
- Adopt Early
- Dedicate Ample Time for Learning
- Balance Consumption with Production
- Play Video Games
- Attend Technology Conferences
- Go to Burning Man
- Transcend Limits with Athletic or Spiritual Practices
- Equalize Your Brain Hemispheres
- NEVER Get Complacent
Find a handful of people you think of as “more advanced” than yourself, and closely follow them on Twitter and FriendFeed. Pay special attention to the tools they’re using, the sources they’re reading and how they work and manage their online lives. Integrate the best of it into your work flow, but don’t just blindly copy people because they are famous.
Whenever you first pick up on genuine buzz about a new tool or online destination, go check it out ASAP. Don’t be a laggard and wait until all your friends are pressuring you to join, because you’ll be too to late to get noticed (and your username will be taken). Subscribe to RSS feeds of blogs like Read Write Web, TechCrunch or Mashable and skim the headlines every day.
If you’re not spending a sizable percentage of your time learning and exploring new tools, you’re probably falling behind and sabotaging yourself. Sacrifice some of your workday (and some nights and weekends) – or sacrifice your career. Social media isn’t “traditional” work and you can’t be expected to keep grinding away on profit-producing projects, like a secretary or a shoe repair guy, for 40 hours a week and stay current.
Social media can be just as mind-numbing as the TV “boob tube,” and it can be even more addictive and time-wasting. It all depends on how you use it. In principle, I try and spend a good portion of my time online producing or creating something – new blog content, videos, code, new business and connections. Sure, it’s important to surf and keep tuned in to social media “pop culture” – but draw the line at some point… and use the blast of information and inspiration to create something other people will enjoy. It’ll will get your mind in “the zone.”
Video games are a easy way to interactively play with a new digital reality or interface, and I’ve found it can help keep my mind limber for “cracking” into new projects, sites and strategy puzzles. (If you like puzzles, check out World of Goo – it’s the best game I’ve played since I was a kid).
Going to tech conferences is a great way to break out of your usual online routine and get confronted with new ideas and people that you would never encounter in front of your keyboard. Get it straight with your boss that you are a true professional who is interested in learning and development. If your employer won’t pay, start by going to local events and meetups… and invest your own money into going to one or two bigger conferences each year instead of vacation. The connections you’ll make can pave the way for brighter employment and business possibilities.
Burning Man is a annual festival where over 40,000 tech-savvy neophiles gather in the desert of Nevada, build a futuristic city, and then burn it down at the end of the week. This exuberant celebration of creativity, psychedelics, high technology, sexuality, human potential and extreme-cutting-edge art inspires people to transcend psychological limits and think bigger than ever before. Larry and Sergy raged at Burning Man in ’99 right before Google went big: Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!
Doing high-intensity physical activities like surfing, snowboarding and trekking adventures helps loosen my mind and push it to new levels of awareness and receptivity. The oxygen, adrenaline and endorphin quiets the noise and clutter in the mind, making it cleaner, calmer and more “open.” In a different way, meditation and prayer can do the same thing.
I’m mostly a left-brain person who enjoys verbal tasks like selling and writing… and I have a harder time getting deep into analytical and numeric stuff. But I notice I feel significantly more balanced and “tuned in” after I challenge myself with some right-brain stuff like spreadsheets, bookkeeping and code. Don’t try and ignore or delegate every task you don’t love – take a crack at it. It will allow you to see hidden details and opportunities you otherwise would have blinders to.
The second you get intellectually lazy and feel like you know “enough” – and there’s no more effort you can make at processing and discovering – is the second you start to go downhill. Whenever you notice that you’re stagnating or getting stuck in a routine, take a break and then try one of the above things on this list to break out of it and keep on going.
Enjoy the Ride
Riding an art car at Burning Man. image: Ryanicus
Actually innovating and being on the cutting edge takes uncommon levels of intuition and creative inspiration – beyond the scope of this blog post – but I believe that almost anyone can learn to stay “near” the cutting edge with the right attitude.
Social media is a challenging game to play… But it’s creative work that is, to me, far more exciting than most other professions. So be grateful, be nimble, be playful, and strive to stay near the cutting edge… the rewards are great and the possibilities are infinite!
[contemplate1]
[contemplate2]
Get a FREE Website Evaluation!
Brett Borders, the author of this article, is a professional copywriter who specializes in increasing website sales and signup rates. I'm available now to write for your website and optimize it for maximum sales and profits. Please contact me now for a free consultation.
