On context and content

04 Mar, 2026

Originally this post was started as Riff: Pixel Bear theme but it quickly took a mind of its own. I also lean way too often on Robert to make my point, I hope he got broad shoulder for carrying me on this journey - this is kind of a preemptive apology I guess.

Robert post about his new theme (really nice one too, well done) got me thinking, again, about something I have been mulling over for a while:

Does context alter content meaning?

I would say obviously yes, non-verbal comunication carries a lot of information, and so does styling in the digital realm: we wouldn't invest so much effort into making messages look a certain way if it didn’t work (think marketing, branding…).
So case closed on this one, the real question that I have been torn about is:

Do I prefer a message stripped of context?

Context can be implicit in the message, I can see from Robert post that he is likely to be a generous, conscientious and focused individual¹, but context is also outside the message, Robert has been featured often in the Bear Trending RSS I subscribe to (that’s how I know of him) suggesting he has a large following (or small and enthusiastic) and his writings attract attention and praise, let’s mark it as famous and successful for argument sake.
I can also see from the theme itself and formatting used in his blog that he is likely to be neat and possessing an aesthetic preference that I find agreeable².

So what?

Well, do I want to know all these things about Robert?
Are these things about Robert even true?
Am I pigeonholing Robert and because of it losing a lot of what his content wants to communicate?

My preference in reading most, if not all, of the content I consume, through an RSS reader, or Reader Mode when navigating the web, will give away my answers, which are:

• I don’t want to know all of these things
• Because these things are likely not even true, or there is no way to find out
• And that “knowing” all of these things will for sure influence my predisposition to his content, to what he is actually saying.

I think we would all benefit, from losing some of the context and focus more on the content, a very real example is Apple:

• For all the progressive and inclusive context they spend billions producing through advertising and curated messaging
• The content will show they build their empire by producing their products in sweatshops where nets had to be installed to prevent “employees” jumping to their death

Am I an ipocryte for writing this from an iPhone? Absolutely yes. Would I want to get distracted by the context and not know the content? Absolutely no.

#content #context #rss #themes