Letting go of Socials

A proclamation of independence

The time has come for me to definitively swear off corporate social media. I've believed in the false promises and abided to the obsession it brings for too long. Even if I haven't always acted on the affects that these platforms have on me, they've influenced the way I think about my process and creativity in a subconscious but very real way.

With all the potential and actual benefits of social media it's been difficult to pull away completely. FOMO is a formidable force. However, there are many reasons to leave. Not all of them are enough by themselves, though some are, but added together they form a very convincing case. At least for me. So here follows a rant as to why I have to quit.

Too Meta

I despise big tech. All the mega-corporations really. Late stage capitalism, technofeudalism, etc... The endless subterfuge where ethics are of no concern and laws are an afterthought. How they exploit workers, what they take in terms of privacy and how they coerce people to stay engaged and say it's a mutual exchange is the highest form of society-breaking bullshit.

The incorporation of the most recent tech bro hype, "Generative A.I.", is bred from the same ideals. You, dear user, valued customer, Consumer, is not meant to benefit from these features. The promises they spout are lies and pure snake oil. They're not solving any existing problem; they're monopolizing.

But I digress.

Everything in the design of these platforms are engineered to keep you scrolling in order to serve you ads. They're not designed for quality on any level; it is irrelevant and a side effect if it happens to crop up at all.

Artist in the bog

I've been online for over 20 years posting my creations. It started with an old site called ElfWood, which is long dead now. I proceeded to Deviant Art and Art Station, and finally ended up on Instagram in 2016.

They have all been detrimental to my creativity, for various reasons.

But none worse than Instagram, by far. As an artist it's pure poison to be expected to post regularly; preferably every day. Even though some people manage to, I don't think they're doing well by it. Failing to do so only means failing the algorithm, but it's hard to see it that way. You blame your art and you think you're lazy for not spewing out viral master pieces on the daily. It's unreasonable to think this way, I know, but it's by design and you're not gullible if you've fallen for this too.

As you're dealing with this, you're shown all the art gods you should strive to match, or even how much more productive and clever your friends are. An endless feed over-exposing you to how perfect the rest of the art world is. It's the same deal with the façades and charades in your personal feed, but it's at least as bad when you're an artist. I'm not saying taking inspiration from other skilled creators is a bad thing, and of course you should support your fellow artists, but you should do it on your own terms. You have to sit in your own head in order to create things, and you'll be thrown off more than you know if you go through that feed. It's a destructive distraction and you'll get an inferiority complex whether you realize it or not.

You may be different, but my mind is very monotropic. Multitasking short-circuits my brain. I stay on a subject for a long time before moving on, sometimes days. Starting my day looking at other peoples art makes it really hard for me to get into my own flow and it just derails me. It also represses one's boredom, that internal signal that tells us to do something more worth while. Direct that energy to something actually worth your time!

My patience for my process tanked pretty fast when I created my account and was kept suppressed for the duration of using Instagram. Everything in the feed is evanescent. It made me constantly question how much time it's worth spending on any single artwork; making me not want to prep, fail or add more details to things. No one will look twice at the result and even less will spend more than a single second (literally) glancing at it, if they get to see it at all. I lost confidence in experimentation because the algorithm penalizes it, so spending the time to make something different didn't feel worth it.

If that's not enough, my feed and all the tags I've used are slowly drowning in AI-generated sludge! Think it's been difficult to get exposure up 'til now? The signal to noise ratio is on a straight vertical trajectory towards the bottom! Welcome to the future I guess.

Making art takes time. It's not a commodity and stop pretending that it should be! I don't make fucking content and I want to make things that last. Perhaps you'll call me entitled, but I say it's basic human decency at stake and I have enough self worth to say no to this. It is not OK.

You might deal with all this just fine, and I hope you're right in that, but it may be worth reflecting on how all of these tricks affect you as well and if it's really worth it.

Even taking time off from all this makes no difference. The con still gets you even when you're away from these apps! I sure as hell can't have this in the back of my mind any longer. I'm out!

The big web beyond

You might be thinking: but where's the business sense in that? Everyone is on social media. So what? Yeah, I don't live off my art, few artists ever do, but there's no "business" if there's no art to begin with. My product isn't worth anything if I don't feel motivated to add value to it. If I don't output things of value, there's no benefit trying to get it in front of the proposed crowds on IG. Not to mention that the audience on social media isn't yours.

There are other ways of gaining an audience, even in this day and age where social media is so ubiquitous. Alluring as the promises of unlimited growth on these platforms may be, the price is high. I dear say that the old web still exists. The real world still exists. There are so many other avenues to share your art, even though it takes effort (which you've spent on social media anyway) you'll actually get a lasting return on that investment if you do it right. Time to be creative, band together and cooperate.

Social media made me complacent. Why build your own thing when they provide you with everything? Purportedly, you get all the marketing, hosting and audience retention, for free! But it's a lie. You pledge yourself to their ways or toil in obscurity. I'd rather build my own thing on the side lines, by my own terms.

Parting words

I really want to delete the account completely, but that would leave my username open to be reclaimed and impersonated by someone else and I'd like to avoid that. It feels half-assed and like I'm copping out, but what you gonna do, it's my brand name after all. I'll make the account private and I'll uninstall the app. I will not return.

I am making an exemption for Mastodon, the decentralized, corp- and algorithm-free social network. Not that I will post much art there and I won't use it to gain a following. But I'll sporadically be shooting the breeze and will be looking for new friendships there.

As a final note, it wasn't all bad. Perhaps the reason why it's difficult to finally quit is that there have been some awesome people that I've had the pleasure of interacting with and some have even become friends. They aren't the reason for leaving and it's hard to give up on the potential of meeting more cool people there.

I hope friends and followers venture outside the gardens and come visit me some time. I'll be sitting on my hill over here, doing my thing.

Take care!

Published 24 Jan 2024

Thanks for reading!