Must Everything You Write Provide Value to Others?

Is there still room for writing that doesn’t give people 3 actionable tips or tricks?

You hear this a lot in relation to writing online, including on Twitter. To provide value. Solve the reader’s problem.

Yes, there are formulas that work. People do have problems and challenges and often want to find content that helps them overcome those.

That leaves me with a question, though.

📖 What About Storytelling?

Is there no room for just telling stories? Having a bit of fun and playing with words and ideas?

It’s like hustle, grind, work all the time as you compete to provide more value than the next item within scrolling distance.

It’s exhausting.

As a reader, I sometimes just want to consume something that’s well written, that expresses interesting and thought-provoking ideas. It doesn’t have to be “productivity porn” all the time.

🍿 Entertainment Value Is a Thing, Right?

Yes, you could say that entertaining someone for a few minutes provides a sort of value. It’s not actionable “now you can go out there and crush your goals” type of value, but surely it’s valuable?

It’s just frustrating to have it framed this way and, as a writer, to consider whether your writing is providing enough value for the almighty algorithm to reward you with impressions.

⏱ TikTok, TikTok, TikTok

Then There’s the TikTokification of social media, as a whole. If I’m not providing value, then I’m essentially competing with memes.

Even at only 250 words I don’t know that people will choose to read these atomic essays versus mindlessly scrolling their feed of choice for quick 🤣

🤷‍♂️ So What?

I don’t know. As my 11-year-old would say (quoting a meme): “Calm down, Jamal”. Maybe I’ll give that a try.