A couple days ago, I made the decision to write a handful of blog posts about some thoughts that were tumbling around in my head. The goal was to pluck one or two from the whirlwind, iron them out, and present them as somewhat coherent ideas. I was (and arguably still am) having trouble stacking the correct letter-shaped Lego bricks together to get my point across, so I did what I always tend to do in these situations.

I went to YouTube to watch videos on how to do something I didn't wanna do because it was hard. Procrastination through productivity is something I've been meaning to write in-depth about; it's one of the many thoughts still left to be thrown on the ironing board. Typically I've thrown together a bullet point outline to structure everything, then follow behind with fleshed out details. This keeps things simple. I only have to keep a small bit of stuff in my head while I write out the prose. For whatever reason, the neurons in my head didn't quite connect and I found myself doom-scrolling.

The results for "How to Write a Great Blog Post" were surprising and disappointing.

• “How to Write An SEO Optimized Blog Post To Drives Traffic To Your Site”
• “How to Write Catchy Titles for Your Blog Posts: 7 Proven Formulas & Pro-tips”
• “How I Write Blog Posts That Actually Make Money”
• "How to Write a Perfect Blog Post in One Hour"

There's monumental focus placed on minimizing time & effort and maximizing traffic & monetization. The goal isn't to create something cool. The goal is to create content. This feels like a perfect example of how prevalent grind culture has become in some areas of the internet. These videos assume you're here to make money, not do something just for fun. "You want to monetize your hobby," is the unspoken statement behind these results.

I'm sure some might point out how algorithmically driven modern YouTube search is. Results are based on what you've watched before, and how long you watched different videos. I don't typically use the YouTube app / website directly. I put a great deal of effort into minimizing how much data I give to Google / YouTube. While I can't guarantee this is a "pure" YouTube search, this shouldn't be hyper specific to just myself. Making the same search with a VPN in an Incognito tab yields similar results.

Another aside, I don't blame any of these creators for the choice in titles or the overall topic of the videos. This really is a case of hating the game, not the player. There genuinely are people who are looking for this kind of content; It's not the creator's fault their videos are shown when I make this search. This seems to be what the algorithm is selecting for and pushing.

Which brings me to my main complaint about all this, this is what the algorithm is pushing. These people are trying to help others make more money, and I'm trying to write better blog posts. There's aren't precisely the same thing, but YouTube has decided they're close enough. The assumption is still, "You want to monetize your hobby."

It reminds me of a conversation I had with a family member several years ago. My then girlfriend (now wife) and I were just getting into home canning and food preservation. We had gotten to the point where we could consistently get great results, and I finally felt comfortable giving out some of our canned goods. A family member was rambling (with love of course) about how great some jars of jelly looked, and the topic shifted towards selling the jelly at a farmer's market. "You could probably make a lot of money selling these."

Bro, I don't want to. I just wanna make my jams and can my green beans.

Having first worked full time in the music field, and them pivoted to IT, I've successfully monetized two of my hobbies and I can tell you it's exhausting. There are some days I'm so tired of combing documentation, that I can't stand to fix even a small issue with my home server. It's been over three years since I moved from full time music, and I'm just now getting to the point where I'm excited to explore new sounds and theory concepts. Monetizing your hobby can be great, but it can come with a ton of baggage and put a strain on your love of that very thing.

Personally, I'm exhausted by the thought of making money doing something I love. Making money comes with so much additional overhead; taxes, branding, meetings. I just want to enjoy the thing. I'm at a point in my life where I reject, "You want to monetize your hobby," as a given. I don't. I don't want every moment of my life to be monetized. I want to just do something for the sake of doing. I want to build a PC for the enjoyment of the build; I want to play a show for the fun of performing.

And I want to write a blog post, just so it exists.

The initial draft of this post ended here, but I also want to attempt to add a small nugget of sweet positivity in an otherwise sour tasting post. I truly am grateful for the opportunities I've had to turn some passions into profit. Not many people can say they got to regularly set their own agenda and schedule each day. The time I spent managing my own music career was beyond informative, and moving into IT has been incredibly lucrative (turns out I'm pretty good at this computer stuff); this has freed me up to focus less on trying to make rent and more on living. Maybe I'm just slowly turning into an old man. The shapes and colors of the world have changed a great deal in just the last 10 years. I can't imagine being a 70 year old man, looking around, and going, "what the hell is all this?"

I digress...

I have some more posts I'm working on involving AI music, managing private notes for songs, and the importance of having a personal music collection. If you liked reading my rant, maybe sign up to the newsletter. I have no intention of trying to sell you anything, I promise.