#036 – The Air Time Dilemma

#036 - The Air Time DilemmaSeptember 2, 2020

Transcript:

If you produce art, media, stories about what’s going on in the world, there is one tough decision you’re probably dealing with, especially if you have a significant following.. How much air time should I give to this topic, to this story, … isn’t it getting enough air time already? How is my piece influencing the discussion, really? Let’s deconstruct what’s going on here: let’s talk about how air time impacts our lives… My name is Camille, you’re listening to Cosmic Dynamics, 5 min of exploration on art, change, and the music of the universe. Experts from the field of Neurobiology and neuropsychology have discovered that attention changes... who we are! The attention we pay to someone for instance: When we think about someone else performing an action, or just thinking about that person actually, we become measurably more like them! My mind blew up when I found this out. By paying attention to someone or a point of view, we give it value. That’s not really surprising. It’s common advice in the business world or in pop psychology: spend more time with people that inspire you, surround yourself well blablabla. But let's take this to the next level. Because you see, just by giving attention to a person
  • even if I fundamentally disagree with what that person is saying, 
  • Or say I am watching a stupid show “just to relax a few minutes”
  • Or browsing youtube videos about a conspiracy theory, flat earth etc. 
Just by giving them attention… I am becoming more like them… It’s happening in the background of my consciousness, every day, all the time. So, this makes me reconsider all the things I pay attention to, all the people, social media posts, films, stories, news stories I follow every day, am I becoming more like them? How much? How fast? … slowly but surely. I am finding out the filters I installed in my life matter even more than I thought… right? Now for those of us working with cultural production and narrative change:  That piece of information about the nature of attention triggers a very important reflection for the Strategies we use on story framing. And we talked about negative vs. positive framings already in episode 32 and 33. Now we are coming in from another angle that reinforces our previous conclusions on the value of positive framings: Question 1: Am I framing a story or reacting to someone else’s framing? In other words, should I give air time to what’s desirable or should I react and oppose what’s not desirable? Yes, the difference is subtle. Question 2: how do I stay relevant to what’s hot today, without reinforcing framings and points of view that I consider harmful… If I am writing a critique of the President, the president is still the focus of the piece… If I am producing a piece on a problematic policy or industry decision, the focus is still… on that policy or industry decision. Even if the point of my piece is to disagree with it, the opposition framing is counterproductive because it puts attention on the problem, and so there is a risk that my audience will become more like the person or idea I am opposing. Is this… useful in the context of your work, of your art, of your thought process as a human on planet earth? Let me know: At Cosmic we actively train individuals and organisations in dealing with the air time dilemma. Write me an email at hello@cosmic.show if you want to learn more. There are workshops coming up soon... and there might be a seat for you! Cheers, Camille

If you produce art, media, stories about what’s going on in the world, there is one tough decision you’re probably dealing with, especially if you have a significant following..

How much air time should I give to this topic, to this story, … isn’t it getting enough air time already? How is my piece influencing the discussion, really? Let’s deconstruct what’s going on here: let’s talk about how air time impacts our lives…

Cosmic Dynamics is also available on Spotify & on podcast apps.

Thank you for tuning in.

Camille

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