Producers and consumers

Some people see tech as stuff to consume. You buy an iPad to watch streams on Twitch. You pay for a Netflix subscription so you can stream and waste away precious hours of your life.

Tech is really about empowering people to produce things. Make a GIF in Photoshop or GIMP. Make a website. Make a program that does something cool. Make an Arduino project that makes lights light up in a cool pattern. Make a robot move. Make a Raspberry Pi with a temperature sensor log the temperature in your greenhouse. It doesn't really matter.

But don't be a mindless consumer. Maybe everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, but you need to produce something.

There are some people whose entire life and identity is just going to work, putting in minimal effort, and then consuming for the rest of their time. These people are often miserable, but do nothing to change their situation. Be a producer. Make software. Make pottery. Make books. Make something. Rise above our social conditioning to become useless, pacified consumers whose only purpose in society is to increase numbers for capitalists. We are more than that. Self-actualization requires creating things.

It takes time, effort and dedication to be creative.
We have limited time, resources and energy.
Wasting it on hobby projects often isn't an option, people have more important stuff to do than gifs and websites.
I operate on the principle of effort/reward ratio.
If reward is not less than effort its optional.
If reward is much greater than effort its prioritized.
If reward is less than effort, its dropped.
Guess where "gifs", "websites","99% of programs","robots" and "lights light up in a cool pattern." end up? the last category.