Creativity Cycles and Social Media Worries

A few days ago, I wrote about how I have tended to "run hot and cold" during a large period of my life. In fact, I still do, with the only difference being that I've learned to discipline myself to make up for the periods when my brain suddenly goes slack.

Sometimes I just go chasing butterflies...

Then I got to thinking about how social media — and what we try to do on social media venues — actually serves to exacerbate that particular hot and cold situation.

We get started on something — like maybe a blog — and we have great enthusiasm and we diligently update and pursue it with mad fervor, in hopes of getting a following. I know I've at least done that with my business identities on social media... slightly less so, on a personal level.

In time, perhaps, we manage to build such a following and people like what we do because we update and say funny, or insightful, or wise or whatever things.

But then the uncertainty sets in.

We start worrying and getting nervous that if we don't keep coming up with new and original material, and post on a daily basis, somehow we will quickly become forgotten and irrelevant. If we take breaks maybe people will just lose interest and leave and go and follow somebody else instead.

So we take this worry upon ourselves... especially if we're representing ourselves as a business.

In turn, this makes us work even harder at meeting the perceived needs of our audience... until we just get completely overwhelmed and burned out, and then we have to stop completely. And, in a sense, that is when the "prophecy" fulfills itself because now we have become so overwhelmed that we can't actually do anything for a couple of weeks... even while we worry that in our absence a whole bunch of our followers will go somewhere else.

Which, indeed, they might do... because audiences also have a short little span of attention, these days.

I've heard this new paradigm we live under referred to as "the Attention Economy." The "currency" we trade in is perhaps less money (and Steem, as it were) than it is "number of views" and thumbs ups and likes and votes. And we're all in such a tight market that we cannot really afford to lose even a single vote and so we fall into the pit of anxiety over "missing" something.

It's not exactly FOMO, but it's definitely related...

To be honest, I don't think it's healthy.

Lately, I've been trying to build better habits with respect to promoting my artwork. What I mean by that is that instead of just painting and "letting it be done" at that point, I am making a concerted effort to add daily updates to twitter, Instagram, and my Facebook page and various other places I have an account.

I've been told that's what "you're supposed to do" if you wish to be seen as an artist and have your work come in front of lots of people... some of whom hopefully will make a purchase. And that you have to keep it up and post all the time so that eventually mentions of your work more or less saturate the universe, so whenever it comes up people will recognize you and say (for example) "oh yeah, that's that guy who paints on rocks!"

Sometimes, I find myself speculating on whether this whole paradigm is actually making certain aspects of life less enjoyable. Have we become so concerned with "being seen" that we've forgotten how to just sit down and not worry about much of anything?

Whatever happened to just going for a walk in nature, without constantly reaching for your camera because every single bird and butterfly and pretty view that comes your way is a potential social media opportunity?

Not that I am placing myself above reproach, mind you!

I'm slowing down. It might not seem like it to the casual observer... but I am slowing down in the sense that I am only going to "keep at it" to the extent that I am still having fun.

Because life is too short to not have fun with!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful Friday!

How about you? Are you very active on social media? As a content creator, do you start worrying that if you don't update enough, people will lose interest? Does that feel like pressure, or are you OK with it? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)

Created at 2024.04.05 00:48 PDT
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