Dallineation

My mental, emotional, and spiritual health have been pretty terrible since about mid-2025. But earlier in the year, when I decided to observe Lent for the first time leading up to Easter, it was the best I had felt in a long time. One of the things I gave up for Lent? Twitch. So I'm taking a break from it again to see what happens.

Abstaining from Twitch – both as a streamer and a viewer – was only one of many things I did for Lent last year, but Twitch has been an obvious source of mental and emotional turmoil for me in recent months, so I think it makes sense for me to step away for a bit and recalibrate.

I will take this time to really contemplate a new approach to Twitch if and when I do decide to return. I want to take what I call the “Fred Rogers Approach” to streaming.

Mister Rogers' approach to television ran completely contrary to the mainstream, and I want to to do the same. I actually attempted this briefly with my DJ stream when I rebranded it to “Positive Notes”. But I abandoned that experiment because I realized I can't limit such a program to just a DJ stream. It really needs to be a variety stream centered around my interests and talents. And the Twitch DJ Program terms specify that DJ streams need to have pre-recorded music as their primary focus, and that you should have a second channel for other content.

Not that I really care about following the DJ Program terms anymore, since it seems they are still not enforcing most of the rules, and the rules they do enforce are not enforced consistently or fairly. I've been playing full albums on my DJ stream for months, which is technically against the rules. Even had a member of the Twitch staff tune in occasionally and enjoy the program.

But it's generally understood that DJ streams should be monetized to offset the DJ Program fees that Twitch has to pay to the record labels. And I've decided that if I return to Twitch, my new channel will never be monetized through Twitch's monetization program. If there is any funding at all, it will be through donations, and perhaps, eventually, sponsorships that are intentional and make sense for what I'm doing. I'll be going for a public television vibe.

I'll probably take a month or two to really think through this and decide if it's worth the time and effort, or if I should move on and pursue something else entirely.

#100DaysToOffload (No. 123) #Twitch #hobbies