TLDR

"Tonights office"... [ face palm ]

TLDR ; ... there was a time when I had no idea what this acronym meant. So I looked it up and even though I now know what it means, it still doesn't make sense. It's now used in a somewhat ironic sense. It was originally a term used to denote that something was overly long and verbose and was not worth the time to read; hence the acronym ; Too Long Don’t Read, or TLDR. But now it's put at the head of something that you genuinely want people to read and are making an ironic statement at the outset... Stupid right? It doesn't make sense, it's like a disingenuous and fatuous statement of sincere insincerity. So there you go... which brings me to the topic of this little post.

Recently I’ve seen a lot of this “ Tonight’s office “ brag on social media…. & I’ve wondered why I find it annoying…. ( and this is in particular response to seeing other magician colleagues post on social media )

So here’s some thoughts on it…

Just a word of caution, ( we all can be guilty of it, to greater and lesser degrees ), those social media posts that announce something like “ Tonight’s office ” with a selfie or a picture of a venue, may come from an earnest intent to share happiness or a feeling of accomplishment, but are mostly about self promotion. Nothing wrong with promoting yourself, but be careful that it doesn’t come off as bragging, as it may do the opposite of what you want it to do.

Numerous psychological studies  have found that people don’t like braggarts and find them to be annoying…. I know I do. It is a phenomenon called the “hubris hypothesis.” This dislike is based on the inference that the person bragging has a negative view of everyone around them. The implied subtext is “I am better than you” and can communicate an implicit dislike, disrespect, or even contempt for readers or viewers.

It is a much better option to just share what you are doing as a kind of social media journal ( which provides social proof of your ability and activities ) but doesn’t imply contempt or an exceptionalism, after all we are used to social media being used to promote activities, just be careful of the tone and context you place it in.

So as something of a better option, try to share and offer something of value or an interesting perspective, something that can be seen as informative, humorous, useful or constructive… Or even that you were impressed by the view or the detail of decor or the size of a room...

Not just “ Tonight’s office “ - thanks hero. [ You are not that interesting if you have nothing to offer, no perspective, insight or point of view ].

Now, full disclosure from me; I am posting this blog entry, because recently I was contacted by a group called FeedSpot. For some reason unknown to me, one of their panelists has chosen my blog ( this thing you are reading here ) as one of the Top 30 Magic Blogs. Now, I can't say that I necessarily agree, but then I don't really read a lot of blogs or magic blogs, so I don't know what is out there... and so, maybe I will share a little bit more on magic, my thoughts and insights learned and how it relates to life and other things and up my blog game...

Watch this space.

Melbourne Magician Richard Vegas Magic Blog