Remember the last time you told somebody about your dream and halfway out of your mouth you realized how insane it sounded? Their face told you, too, how it wasn’t making sense and their interest/ability to follow was being put to the test, but you did it anyway.

Afterward you thought maybe I shouldn’t have done that.

The modern era equivalent to telling somebody about your dreams is sending them an IG Reel, or a YouTube short, or any other type of snippet content.

This isn’t my observation. I got this from Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen on Pete Holmes. I just think it’s really accurate.

When you’re consuming dopamine hits, there’s all sorts of context that goes into why something makes sense to you in that moment. When you snip out one thing and send it to somebody else, sometimes it will make sense, but most of the time, they’re doing the same “What is this and why are they sending it to me” that you’re doing when you get one from somebody else.

It doesn’t mean you can’t talk to people about your dreams or share stuff you found on the internet with them.

I do still support this, let the record show.

You just have to be aware of why you’re sending it and make sure they know why. The music nerd stuff I share with friends is always welcome and easy to pass along. Same with podcast/media strategy content between my friends group that works in this space. Likewise for the fantasy soccer group chat where content related to that theme can live.

None of these have the fever-dream element of why are you telling me this and I’m confused.

All it takes is some extra awareness before you share. A lot of context is inferred, and a little intentionality can help prove if it’s in place. Think before you send. It’s probably even easier than thinking before you speak.

Avoid the low effort shares whenever possible. They really are as crazy as your (and my) weirdest dreams.