The "Cakes" of Lifetimes -- Your Lifetime As Another's Resource
Updated: Apr 6
Each lifetime is limited, and because of that it is precious. It is precious not only objectively, but also inter-subjectively, to the many people, sources, and organizations that are interested in taking a portion of your and my lifetime. As such, time is a resource, and not only that of your own.
As small as these portions may be, they could be significant in relation to whatever function their sources intend to make. From genuine friends and family to global corporations, your lifetime is basically a resource. A resource that can be utilized in the name of consumerism and capital.
And it is indeed resource of great capital. One that can be retained, as well, like in the food industry, where your appetite can grow unnecessarily. Since interactions and exposure necessarily take a part of your time, they necessarily take a part of your overall lifespan, in order for you to be influenced by them, by will (like gaining a friend's trust) or by force (like TV and video ads).
Every human life that interacts and consumes things and beings beyond their own self will partake in the external world. They will be dedicating, through intent or lack of awareness, some of their lifetime to certain products, and thus "convert" themselves to be a friend, a follower, a customer, and so on.
The term "human resources", although soulless in perception, is even truer in terms of time. Our time, although ours, doesn't exactly "belong" to us, as much of it can easily become the product of others. Whenever we have this imperative collectible of attention, it is then when our time can be most utilized for others' gain. For ourselves as well, yes? But as long as we do something, and not do nothing, we will seek ways to spend our time elsewhere. As you can tell, doing nothing isn't as profitable as doing something. Hence, external activity is an elementary financial interest of countless organizations.
This isn't necessarily a bad or a "corporate" thing, but in order to better understand our existence, we ought to recognize how much of a resource each and every one of us are, as long as we are among civilization (even if you're a hermit with an internet connection). We seek to spend our time externally because we have voids we need or want to fulfill outside of ourselves. The need or desire to fulfill these voids are what make us selfish.
We can regard our pursuit for love and affection as if it were a business model. But take note that in conditional love, once the void has been fulfilled, or once the other side will fail at filling that void for you, you might feel compelled to leave them. Dispose of them. Deem them as too irrelevant to be part of your life any longer. See for yourself if conditional love is worthy of your time as if it were a product you are consuming, like a YouTube video. It is a very contentist problem, you know.
Our lives are pretty much a source that many compete to conquer and invest in portions. The average human doesn't necessarily think of how many people and entities compete to attain a small territory in their minds, using their attained time when the person is attending them. The competition is enormous, especially nowadays, where there are so many advertisers, businesses, and content creators to choose from.
That competition is like in the jungle. He or she who will fail rising beyond the ceilings of irrelevancy/anonymity will stay irrelevant. People may be enticed by relevancy because relevance is essential to success.
Even I compete against many other competitors whom I have no power on, the moment and period you're reading this article. Competitors are not always about "content creators" or "news channels" and such. It's also about your own private environment, your ability to focus, on your patience, and so forth. It therefore would only be natural that so many bodies would have so little grip on the "cake" of your lifespan.
Shallowness for that matter is a "necessary evil" because it is easier to understand shallow content.
Imagine a cake with so many flavors it is basically too rich in flavor in order to be considered as delicious; that's your time and the many "influencers" they have on it. Any second counts, as literally the next second would then be "occupied" AKA invested by another entity, concept, product, or organization.
As such, even in blogging, an average visit duration is an important tool to consider. The longer a reader stays in your site, the better.
It's not that bad when put to practice, but theoretically the occupants over this "cake" are massive. For global giants such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to get so much of our time, that is a truly giant achievement. Some may use these products for hours, but technically even ten minutes is already a meaningful achievement for any possible source of attention.
When we have free time, why would books be something hard to read for long? Because some of us have TVs, and within these TVs there are channels we like and like less, and we have a computer or a phone with apps we use more and use less -- in short, the temptations of distractions are wider to some of us than in any other period in human history. And because of that, reading books is getting harder for many.
When it snowed outside or had heavy rain, we were required sometimes to be confined to our homes in the far past, and we didn't have all the distractions as we have nowadays. A book could've easily been read in the far past than today In today's standards, consuming small portions of things should be highly valued in a world filled with seemingly-infinite competition on your undivided attention. For that matter, we no longer need to worry as much when we are physically isolated from the world when we have far-more accessible content to consume.
According to a source, the average reader stays around 37 seconds in the average blog. That is pretty low when it comes to extensive reading, but imagine these 37 seconds against the many attempts of competitors for you to read their blog and not yours, so these 37 possibly said a lot about your influence.
An average person lives around, what, 60-80 years? The exact number is irrelevant here, but it is nonetheless a very great "cake" in mathematical standards, like a massive continent that can be divided by many, small-time warlords, and maybe a few bigger conquerors. And that is while many other "empires" can't or won't even reach your "land".
And that "cake" of yours is only reduced the more you live.
Multiply that continent by billions of people, and you have an entire universe you can conquer with whatever you have to offer humanity. Even if they will only hear you for a few seconds, these few seconds are still valuable in the grand scheme of things, and could even return in a day, month, or year for more "meals"!
People's time are important so do not overestimate it! And the same goes for your time, too!
To fully succeed in this "eternal" competition for time, that is possible only to the most successful and privileged in their work, and those are not many. They will flourish in their grip on the world to the point that even governments will try to limit their power, so the competition would be fair, even if it's not. It's like being famous. I'm, of course, only talking in theory.
The things and beings that go viral on a short notice are few compared to the many hard workers out there, who are not necessarily as "fortunate". It might take a few months minimum or many years for the "average" man or woman, and the work might not necessarily pay as well. But one should remember that the equal right of opportunity is there; it's just that the way to get there that is harder.
I am not even an academic and I'm considered by some of my readers as an authority in the industry of philosophy. How did I get there? I simply have no desire to waste my readership's time.
