One of the worst digital phenomenons is “content”. It poisons the web and our brains. Content makes our life so much harder, as we have to wade through all this stuff to find what we’re looking for; stuff that’s made by machines for machines to make money.

Make art. Make tools. But please stop creating content. Ughhh

@christowski this, spam and trillions of updates
@christowski What do you explicitly define as “content”?
@philipp Stuff that is produced solely to keep an algorithm or a search engine engaged.

@christowski While it can have different meanings, to me every personal website, article or blog post, video, or image is content, and while not everything is worth consuming there is loads of great content accessible.

Your personal website is content to me, and I just had a lovely time browsing through it. I wouldn't want you to stop maintaining or evolving it.

If you say, people should stop create content, I believe it needs the context you just provided me with. Content ≠ per se, imho.

@philipp I see what you mean (and thank you!). :) Content is not a new word; the ubiquitousness of the “content creator” just shifted its meaning—at least for me. I think it’s good to be precise with whatever you do; writing, making art, teaching, tools, etc etc. It also gives it more meaning and depth.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/27/movies/emma-thompson-writers-strike-content.html

Emma Thompson Is Right: The Word ‘Content’ Is Rude

The term may be popular in an age of blurring lines between platforms, but the Hollywood strikes have shown how the phrase can devalue creative work.

The New York Times
@christowski exactly, if you are writing, designing, making art, taking photos, … people should just call it that, as you mentioned it provides meaning and context. So, maybe we should urge people to stop using the word „Content“ for those kind of things 😊 and just name things.