Back in the early 2000s, everyone in our family got cell phones. We had flip phones first and then we all got the ones with the slide-out texting keyboard. Remember those, circa 2007? After a year cycle, my parents (who are always kinda behind the times with tech) decided they wouldn't keep their phones (just a good ol' fashioned landline for them), and my sister and I could get new cell phones. My sister did and I said no thanks. I went through high school without a phone. I felt liberated! If you wanted to talk to me you had to call a landline. If you want to track me down, text someone else to see if I'm with them! I wasn't glued to a screen! And when all my friends upgraded to smartphones I felt happy that I wasn't zoned out on Facebook mindlessly scrolling through other people's photos and thoughts. I was present, and open to experience! I never had myspace, Facebook, or Instagram despite the constant pressure to join in. No fuckin thank you.
Don't get me wrong, I get the appeal, I'm a visual person and I love taking photos. But I also felt, for many years, like no one saw what I saw it to truly be. I endured so many confused looks over the years when I was asked what my social media @ was. Sometimes people even acted like oh, you must not have a life, anything to say, anything to show. (I take pretty pictures, do interesting things, go to obscure places, and am interested in aesthetic experience as much as the next guy! I'll admit I'd have a well-curated feed. And speaking of, I miss the blog days of quirky vintage outfits, DIY's, and creative bohemian home decorating! Get online, see cool shit, get off and live your life!) But now when I say I have no social media people commend me. "Oh, I wish I could do that!" or "Good for you, that's great!" They've lived with everything I predicted social media to be. They've also lived through the beauty of it as well, and I've missed out on that! Staying connected, meeting kindred spirits, learning about new things from cool people! I am a firm believer in the truth of Both/And/Also and in the grey area. This new online world we are constantly shaping is trying to get us stuck in a binary way of thinking, to make you deny what makes you human. But "Both can be true" is something I find myself repeating often and it applies to social media and the way it is used.
For me, and most I would assume, creativity takes work but it is mostly spontaneous surges and waves of sudden inspiration. I would hate to feel forced to pump out inauthentic work to build or maintain a platform. A platform that would, of course, give me certain privileges I do not have without a social media account(s) but would feel suffocating in the long run. I do not wish to reduce my integrity, my authenticity for the machine, or the algorithm. I believe that to reach a few more people, make a few more sales, get a few more eyes on my work I would be, essentially, creating free content for tech billionaires. It pulls us in for a dopamine hit and feeds off of our compulsive use. It's a game I don't want to play. I hear people saying they want more connection, more community, more human-ness! Well, we gotta show up in the real world to find that. And yeah, (eye roll) here I am rant-typing this shit out into my little magic wand/screen prison (what I chose to see it as depends on my relationship to it in the given moment)!
Yes, this game can be a gift. For the first time in forever as artists, poets, writers, and musicians we can get our work out to the hearts and souls of the people to feel, see, experience, integrate, engage, support, and purchase the work. We can reach people with a tool that is 'free' no gallery needed, without gates or walls to break through! But as a visual artist what is the cost? What does the viewer lose? Is there a magic to experiencing music live or art in the 3D?
Sometimes I wonder if I was willing to play the social media game if I would find more opportunities or sales or whatever coming my way. But I know, in the deep well of my heart, that it is not the place for me. Sometimes we let go into convenience and we find that we lose something real along the way and it surprises us. The loss sneaks up on us. The loss becomes dangerous, deeply harmful, but it usually takes time to bare its teeth. But now we are dependent on convenience. And it's too hard to go back to the way it used to be. It was that way with food, with housing, with birth, with community, and now it's becoming that way with art. It seems like there is this uptick in churn-out-the-soulless-NFT, get-rich-quick, gold-rush-mentality art. (Follow the money when you have doubts about anything~ the modern medical-industrial complex, social media and its effect on our brains, etc.) Keep up with the algorithm, churn out content, dance monkey dance or you'll be buried and lose your audience. Pressure to post means you've got to make art despite your seasonal slow period, the making shit and figuring it out phase, the imposter syndrome, or what's going on in your personal life. You crack against image after image of artists whose work you think is better than yours, they get the best shows, they make consistent sales. You play the comparison game that ends in you feeling uninspired. It hinders your work, and on top of it, now you're distracted- scrolling, scrolling, scrolling through snippets and facades.
Sometimes I feel like a ranting hippie who took one too many psychedelic journeys when I talk about technology. It's a double-edged sword. I will -sometimes reluctantly, sometimes enthusiastically- dip my toes in, only to be horrified by my compulsion to grab for this device. I'm trying to find balance. But the more I indulge, the harder it is to put down this stupid little phone. Is it a necessary evil? I'm not sure. It's a gift and a curse, depending on how I choose to use it. And that's why I've made the conscious choice to not be on social media.
*Of course this mostly applied to my not sharing my artwork or art business on social media because this is an art blog, but this thinking applies to my decision to avoid having a personal social media account as well.*
Obviously watch:
The Social Dilemma &
Bo Burnham Inside on Netflix
Please listen:
To any Medicine Stories Podcast but this one overlaps with today's post a bit and will challenge you to be a free thinker which we need more of:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2OstpEwiU7ByqQFy8P7HKg?si=V4ar5DwzSQ-JZYbbeP3PQw&utm_source=copy-link
Read more:
https://www.vulture.com/2018/12/why-these-artists-are-quitting-instagram.html
댓글