My curation efforts are worth 1.00$ / hour.

With 3500 SP, a few hours of work and my luck, I get a few dollars worth of curation rewards per day, and that's not worth the effort. I had a look at the top posters on the trending page, their wallets and curation rewards. It looks like I'm an average curator. Even top posters don't seem to make significantly more. Maybe they are concentrating their efforts on creating excellent content? In theory, having 10 times more SP should give 100 times more curation rewards, which would be totally ok! 200 $ per day at todays price. That sounds good enough! But I have no chance of getting 100,000$ worth or Steem by posting, and I will certainly not get a loan. So what's the plan?

The greatest benefit of Steem is the quality content

I will make much better use of my time by checking the top 100 trending posts every day, and thus enjoying the most valuable content Steem can provide me. After all, that's the ultimate goal of curation, isn't it? Separating quality content from the rest, to the benefit of readers. If I have extra time, I will have a look at the active and hot categories. Eventual curation rewards will only be a side-effect of my natural voting behavior.

I will make a hundred times more money by learning something new and applying it

If Steem addiction prevents me from getting things done, it's worse than nothing. It gives me a dollar per hour but takes my time away. Thus, no more curation game. I will only enjoy good content and conversations, and contribute the little I have when there's a chance. The trending page will tell me everything I need to know about what's going on in the space. Steem works as it should. Thanks!