Chapter 23 – Why aren’t you on social media?

I have a duty towards myself, another one, what a life. Once I set my values or adhere to the ones preexisting here, I can’t diverge from them (opinions being a different matter) and won’t abide by some corporate requirements if they contradict them. We strive for integrity and fairness – big words, no pressure.

As explained – you must be quite familiar with this statement by now – The Blue Neon revolves around 3 distinct features: moderation, diversity & chance. These pillars lay the foundation allowing the ultimate engagement into an artwork, a full commitment via slow-looking. We envision a place where the visitor – you – reclaims its time, by being present, indulging in a moment of contemplation; though we discussed the differences with a mindfulness business.

It might, in turn, force you to question the way you spend your time online, even if this isn’t our core ambition, as we consider you have already initiated such a discussion with yourself. We aim here for the  broader picture and would like you to rather reflect on how you engage with the world surrounding you and hence on how you value your time in general. We can hear you mock us: ‘you’re just another platform that proclaims everyone else is bad, join us instead’ or ‘ditch all your apps, we are just what you need’…

While these critics are not devoid of rationale, our commitment remains the same: no more than 5 minutes per connection, perhaps 10 if you’re on a slow-looking spree and engage with several artworks, that’s all we require from you in order for art to make an impression (and hence raise more questions). Even better, we encourage you to step outside and do this in a museum, a gallery, during a walk or even your commute. We don’t want you to keep scrolling mindlessly for hours or coming back to this place several times a day to satisfy a dopamine urge. This could be a no-brainer for some websites, yet a rather strenuous task for one like us that relies on a visually appealing concept.

But back to your original question: truth be told, it would have been simpler to jump on the bandwagon and embrace social media to reach out to a broad audience, all from the comfort of our couch. Nevertheless this would have depicted us as absolute hypocrites and led us to die from shame (we don’t use euphemism here). We decided not to take this path from the start of our humble beginnings and focused on alternative marketing strategies instead. We never wasted time crafting some cutting-edge posts to obey moody algorithms, thank God, we prefer to spout nonsense on this journal.

To state the obvious, of course, we don’t put all social media platforms in the same bag and we don’t underestimate the benefits they may yield to some extent either. We also recognise that ultimately each visitor bears the responsibility of how they manage their time on these platforms.

However our concerns are twofold and target aspects of the malignant approach they have been designed, on purpose: being addictive and keeping you in an echo-chamber. These platforms endorse shallowness and above all speed, which has become your new religion, one created by the vacuum left by the recession of  traditional ones. How could we be seen in the same room as them when we invite you to slow-down and to be curious.

Practice what you preach!

Here lies our fight and we would love to have you aboard as well.

One final word, there is no disruption in how we market our concept. There isn’t even a disruption in what The Blue Neon offers, every single feature has been around since the age of time, this might have been laid out earlier in our discussion, and if not, I’ll correct this mistake soon.

Reclaim your attention.

Yours Sincerely,

BLUE