Staking My Claim on the Digital Landscape

in #introduceyourself5 years ago (edited)

Greetings Steemians!

Well, this intro post has been a long time coming. I first caught wind of Steemit several years ago from an enthusiastic friend, @lovejoy, and was fascinated by the concept of a blogging platform that rewarded its users in digital money, but I was a crypto newbie. All I knew about cryptocurrency was that you could use something called Bitcoin to purchase illicit substances or services through the deep web, so Steemit was quite the revelation to me. With the intention of deepening my knowledge of cryptocurrency, I created an account, but before I had the chance to even draft my first post… I lost my password. Whoops!

So here I am, three-ish years later, ready for round two.

I’m a student by day, a barista (also by day), and in the moments between schooling and slinging coffee I spend my time writing, dancing, story collecting, and appreciating all things mystical and artistical. My hometown is Minneapolis, the most happenin’ place in the cold cold north. Apparently theres a solid community of steemians around these parts, often floating in and out of @caffetto where I’m currently drafting this post. Hey guys.

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Drafting up the post. Cred: supportive friend

I’ll be honest: posting online isn’t something I have much experience with. Even though my childhood was illuminated by the glow of computer monitors, I was reluctant from a young age to dive too deeply into the World Wide Web. I remember being ten years old and sending out a frantic mass email to all my contacts on why I thought the internet would lead to the downfall of humanity. [email protected] grieved preemptively over the loss of handwritten letters, cursed the government for poisoning our brains, and begged her unsuspecting friends not to be seduced by robots. The father of one of my friends gently pointed out, to my horror, the irony in this. From that moment on, I vowed to keep my feet firmly planted in physical reality.

Obviously that was harder than expected, and my determination eventually wore off. I was loyal to pen and paper until avoiding online assignments threatened my GPA and all my friends started using Instagram. The fear of missing out (fomo...crypto term, right?) drove me to set up a few online profiles, but I hardly took any gratification from sifting through selfies and awkward over-shares, and I rarely made any posts myself.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely not here to preach against the evils of the internet. I’ve completely gotten over my aversion to spending time online. The internet is a fraught, manic place, but it isn’t evil. It is a reflection of both the ugliness and the beauty that we as a species are capable of creating. I have done a considerable amount of scrolling over the past few years, reveling in the madness. Ten year old me would be disgraced, but as a twenty year old college student, well, I’m not complaining. (I’m glad I could use Google to double check the meaning of the word “fraught,” rather than a dictionary.)

Now it's time for me to officially stake my claim on the digital landscape. The desire to contribute to the cyber-dimension is just too strong for me to deny. What better place to do that than on a platform that doesn’t let you delete posts? In all seriousness, I am actually super stoked about Steemit and crypto and blockchain and every prospective avenue I’ll find myself traveling down on this journey. Stay tuned for posts about anything from local artsy happenings to philosophical musings, and maybe the occasional poem or short story. This blog will surely evolve as I do.

Blessings,

Sophia

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It is great to have you in the community, @denouement!

It seems like you are a creative person, able to write and other art forms. Good for you!

If you plan to produce educational blog posts or do indie journalism you might find it helpful to submit your work in the HoboDAO contests. Check out the @hobo.media blog and learn about our contest system!

Welcome! Nice intro post. 👍 Enjoy your stay @denouement 🍀

Feel free to check out the tribes and tag your posts accordingly for some extra bit of reward tokens as well as exposure, you can use up to ten tags now. 🙂

Hello and welcome to Steem. It can be a bit confusing to get started with all the options and information flying your way. Take your time and don't get disheartened by the lack of post rewards after your initial intro post, that can be quite normal. The Steempeak front-end as nice functions for writers and set up Keychain to secure all your keys. For mobile Esteem is quite good and the Tribes are a great way to direct your content to those most interested, you can also earn other tokens as well as Steem by using their tags. (just some tips to get you started)
Wishing you a happy stay here and really enjoyed the word flow of your intro. ( A bit more alliteration for you)

Greetings and welcome back to Steemit. Hopefully it won't be another denouement for you but a great beginning and an adventure to learn something new. Good luck and keep writing.

Thank you! I hope so too.

Welcome to Steemit! It's really a great place for the enthusiast writers and for the people who want to share their good work with the world! :)

Bartender Sophia, exactly, the Internet is a tool, it is a reflection, like you said. Oh, excuse me, I mean madam barista. Technically, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Twitter, Amazon, etc, are tech cartels and some of them are like virtual monopolies in some ways. I love decentralization, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, IPFS, Bit Torrent, P2P, Ubuntu, Substratum, Steem, IWA, etc. Yeah, Google can help. Also, Duck Duck Go.

Right, maybe thats why I was so put off by the other social media sites. Too many overlord vibes. Thanks for the tip on Duck Duck Go, just googled it ;)

Yeah, well, I do miss MySpace which is still around by the way. We have Steemit, Gab, Minds, Bitchute, Brighteon, etc.

Welcome @denouement! Great to have you. I saw a @lovejoy Steemit tutorial happening at @caffetto last week. I didn't want to interrupt but very glad to see your introductory post. It's a great place. Welcome to the family!

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Welcome denouement!
eSteem is the application that improves your experience on Steem. You have full control over your data and content, unlike some apps we don't use our users to promote our application or services.

We have Mobile application for Android and iOS users. We also have developed Surfer Desktop application that helps you to gain new followers and stay connected with your friends, unique features - notifications, bookmarks, favorites, drafts, and more.
We reward our users with encouragement upvotes as well as monthly giveaways rewarding Spotlight top users and active Discord users.
Learn more: https://esteem.app
Join our discord: https://discord.gg/8eHupPq

Welcome at long last, you marvelous mellifluous mystical maven! I hope you find a cozy home in this quadrant of the digital landscape. I’m glad you’re here. :) bless, be

Thats some powerful alliteration right there! Many thanks again :)

As coffee addict I'm not so sure I should get near a coffee slinger but, I like your writing style and look forward to more. Welcome to steem!

Well, I'd rather push herbal tea on people than coffee, so don't be too wary! Thanks for the welcome!