This was supposed to be my very first post on Steemit. I should have posted this about a month ago but due to me trying to be some sort of literary perfectionist I feel that I probably missed my opportunity to make a lot of hype money in the beginning simply by introducing myself . I wish I found out about Steemit in July or even August when they were practically giving the money away. In my opinion it was a very small window of opportunity but enough of that and back to my write up.

It was Columbus' Day weekend. I decided to totally veg out for a change and well deserved too. No running ragged, doing 3, 4 things at a time, leaving my comfort zone to do anything for anyone that officially has nothing to do with me I decided to do something out of character. I surfed the net aimlessly, just randomly searching for whatever came to mind. This is not something I usually do. I'm more the seek and destroy type. I rarely peruse but I was bored.

I surfed YouTube to see what was trending but of course I instinctively went into research mode and started looking up how to be an effective blogger because I have a lot to say and have been thinking about writing a book for a very long time. I tried to wrap my head around that SEO stuff, how to increase my presence on the net and most of all, how do I make Facebook work and be profitable for ME.

I stumbled upon a video called "The NEW Social Media Platform with the STEEM to DESTROY Facebook!" by HighImpactFlix. I thought to myself "Oh really?!" raising a skeptical brow. This I gotta see, not to mention that suicidal thumbnail of a Facebook gun to the head had me intrigued.

The guys opening question immediately caught my attention, "How much time do you think most people spend consuming media?" The first answer that came to mind was not an amount, but a person, "my wife"... (oh yeah, lol! this is gonna get good, so I suggest you stick around) OMG! she spends a ridiculous amount of time on her damn phone and tablet doing nothing of real importance.

This is true to life, just look around. Everywhere you turn, all you see are people using their phones or other devices doing something involving social networks. The next thing I heard that caught my attention. "The pesky mosquito of censorship cannot survive on a Steemit platform". This ain't Facebook, I can tell you that!

Now, don't get me wrong, I like Facebook about as much as the next person. Well, not AS much as the next person but what I don't appreciate are the unnecessary nonsense, the melange of emotions, the censorship, the ratting and that ridiculously sensitive secret society that decides why and who gets temporary deactivated AKA Facebook or Twitter jail as punishment for their freedom of expression. Most of the time it's nothing racy or offensive. All it takes is a hater to snitch on you.

Not to mention Facebook thrives on your personal information; your likeness, intellectual properties and that curse of a blessing, that tangled web of friends and mutual friends we cope with affecting our moods and personalities almost every time we get on. It makes it difficult to sincerely express yourself fully without the threat of trolling or worse being called a troll, or accused of sending "subliminal messages" AKA "subs" (when a post or commentary is not saying any names but is indirectly stating the obvious) relying on the "if the shoe fits wear it" scenario to shroud the status or comment. That gets to be a lot to take in at times.

I used to visit a site called 4chan because it offered anonymity and was censor free. As long as you played by their few simple rules, you were pretty much free to express yourself. I would create memes, spew rants and rhetoric in retaliation from the stupid and ridiculous content I would see on Facebook that pisses me off, lol! Many of them came from the people I knew. I created content with the intention and hope it would eventually make it to Facebook and get circulated. It didn't keep my attention for long though. It felt as if I was doing it all for nothing. I wasn't getting the satisfaction I was looking for. It was as if I was putting messages in a bottle and throwing them into the ocean. Who is it reaching, where is it really going, what's the point? So I abandoned it.

So far, this seems like a place I can call home... seems.

norman-deplume