Welcome to Medium’s 12-step program

Hi. My name is Lon, and I’m an addict.

As someone who does a lot of writing, but doesn’t need to monetize my time here (except to sell The Grammar Games as a TV pilot), and as someone with virtually no awareness or interest in social media celebrity as a means of making a living, my experience with Medium has evolved. Sort of like a heroin addict.

CONTACT HIGH

Stage 1: Newbie, checking out all these cool articles. Seems like a writer’s paradise. Read deeply personal stories and responses from a wide group of people, but have no idea about context.

Stage 2: Add my two sense, (boy, there’s a Freudian slip) based on a bunch of cool research that nobody seems to be talking about or aware of.

Stage 3: Wonder why my articles get so few reads, when there’s a bunch of other drivel that dumbs people down rather than educating them.

ADDICTION

Stage 4: Jonesing for more green hearts. Experiment with different writing subjects and styles.

HITTING BOTTOM

Stage 5: Notice that other people feel the same way, especially about the avalance of bullish*t with respect to start-ups, self-help and life hacks AND articles explaining how to write popular articles on Medium.

REHAB

Stage 6: Read and laugh at articles by the cynics and humorists calling out the bullish*t, and try to join a group that refuses to band together or even call itself a group.

Stage 7: Become more popular in response to mocking the whole idea of becoming popular.

BREAKING SOBRIETY

Stage 8: Jonesing for even more green hearts.

REHAB 2

Stage 9: Focusing on making connections and developing deeper relationships.

RECOVERY

Stage 10: Having my own “eureka” moment where certain strangers have taught me things about life and my own limitations of perception that are nothing short of group therapy, but possibly impossible to replicate because there are so many different people with wildly different experiences who may not have the resources to attend the group.

Stage 11: Feel shock and anger at watching this sacred space invaded by a bunch of bullies and assholes, causing us to lose a valued community member.

Stage 12: Express that anger at others in response to seeing the fragile community split apart in varying levels of ideological purity.

Stage 13: Lose desire in the whole platform. Find a better use of time.

REINTRODUCTION TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD

After a weekend vacation where I hardly read any articles and made no posts, we’ll see how well I manage my time moving forward.

[UPDATE, 5/27: Recovery has been much more difficult than I thought. Just like Pacino in Godfather III, “just when thought I was out, they (my friends at Medium) pulled me back in.” But I have found a higher purpose, helping to create and spread “The Tao of Blogging,” a collaborative book on online wisdom:

The Air around the Donut’s Hole

The book is filling up (almost 75% complete). If you have or know someone who was written a funny but profound quote, please go to one of the articles in the publication, and add it to the comments.

If you want to buy the book, details will be coming in the next few weeks, with 100% of the proceeds going to charity.]