I like the path of evolution of this book. It was born as a newsletter then grew into a fully-fledged resource that questions one of the biggest problems we're facing as humanity: why are blissfully ignoring the non-screen part of our lives?
As a creative person from the field, Jess speaks the cruel truths, criticizes the numb and careless marketing approach blasting inboxes, and reminds us that life is eventually an offline platform. I admire the bold and confident tone. Sometimes we need to burn bridges to stop ourselves from crossing again.
The mixture of serif and monospaced fonts with a "yeah, this would look good on paper" layout was also appealing. It's not published as an e-book anyways.
After this book is published, Jess started a new project: https://nofun.tips
Here are some takeaways:
The money spent on voracious advertising is not worth it. P&G cut 200$M of their budget, and it had no correlatable impact on sales.
The web became an eyeball monetizing platform instead of serving its purpose: giving voice to the voiceless, free information, and education. It kinda reminds me of this quote from some guy: "We wanted flying cars; instead, we got 140 characters."
When it comes to marketing strategy, everyone is doing what someone else is doing. There's no solid reasoning behind most of the campaigns and ads we're being exposed to while browsing online.
The less aggressive (like native/content marketing) are more relevant and valuable than traditional ones. However, they kill the creative freedom of the content creator because they need to focus on what creates the monetary value instead of what they want to make.
Boredom is inherently a good thing. Yet, society doesn't value it. So, instead, we fake being busy. When we are not busy creating, we are busy consuming. Extremely annoying.
Why are you doing this? Just because!
- It permits to create at the most explosive level.
- It feels right, it would be fun, it would be weird.
Getting conscious on work time
