Social media was meant to be a blessing and has turned out to be a downfall. I left Twitter in December because it was slowly destroying me. I was exhausted of campaigning against racism, fascism, anti-Semitism, Russian trolls and other filth.
It was very interesting for me to read some of your thoughts, since I am currently working on my own article about how Instagram has harmed my art and creativity. I have already written the first part, but the more I look into it and I reflect on myself, the more I begin to see how profound these changes are, affecting not only my art, but also the way I think, work and interact with people. So I want to write about that as well and this is how I came across your article.
It is ironic, in a way, that it is the SOCIAL media which made us all feel very isolated. Even now, as I am writing this, I realize that I have lost the skill and the motivation behind genuinely interacting with people online. It wasn't always like this, but after spending years on Instagram, where deep and meaningful communication is rare, I find this feeling of reaching out to other people foreign and a little bit awkward. It's not easy to undo this programming of the social media. Or should I say ANTI-social media eheh
As for the post-social media world - I've never thought about it this way.... hmm.. I wonder what it would look like?.. I'm afraid it might be a mess, because of the mental/psychological damage it has inflicted upon all of us. I am going to explore this in more detail in my next article, but to make it very short, I believe that the problem is not only the isolation and loss of proper communication skills, but it has also affected our self-esteem. Speaking from the point of view of an artist, if I am creating "content" (drawings and artworks, actually, I hate to call it CONTENT) and there is little "engagement" over the course of several years, if I fail to attract new following and nobody is liking or even noticing my art, of course I am going to internalize this, thinking that something is wrong with my drawings, that I'm probably not (doing) enough, that I am a failure, not a good artist (or a writer). This is a huge blow to an Ego, and thus it might be indeed difficult or almost impossible to feel worthy charging money for the art or writing you are making. Kind of like being programmed for failure by the feedback loop you've got on the social media platform. (Yet at the same time, money is being made from us creating content for the platform, to keep each other glued to it) It's really sick... and sad!
It is just my perspective, but I thought I would share. This is why I do think that it is theoretically still possible to earn with what you like, however if you have sustained such a heavy blow to your self-worth and self-esteem as a creative (who is usually already more sensitive to rejection), this might become very challenging indeed. But I want to believe that it's not impossible, if there is a will..
Good luck with what you are doing and have a kind day!
I love that you quoted Kyle Fitzpatrick from the Trend Report.
In line with what you're saying, they also said: "Getting paid to “do the thing you love” as a creative is not reality: it’s an unreal promise that the tech industry gave us, to exploit us before discarding us — and we’re at the end of that lifecycle."
Yeah, I loved that quote! I just really wanna lean into making things work for "creatives" in a way that isn't exploited by those dumb companies. Use them as tools, sure, but don't build our entire brand and spend all our energy building sand castles on their beaches.
Love everything about this post Seth--thank you!! And ok, wow--who is this lovely man HINDZ? Oh my! I hope he has some sort of online platform where he reads bedtime stories to people? What a soul-soother. Thanks for sharing your words of encouragement and his!! Needed this today (and everyday)! 😉
Great post and message Seth (and not just because my zine and ducks are featured!) We need community as artists, and there are many ways beyond social media to make those connections.
I used to believe that I should do what I love, and success will come. But recently I was made clear to me that this is not true, at least not always.
The famous Steve Job's quote says "Love what you do" - it is NOT "Do what you Love"!
This is very clear to me, and I've plenty enough example of people wasting time trying to do what they love and no success came to them.
The Survivor Bias is indeed very prevalent in our society, and we often times are blinded to the success of this one person, and forget that there were millions that failed.
Btwy, great video about focus there, I'm also using an app to keep my focus and reduce my time on screen.
Thank you, Chris! Yeah, "success" is going to be different for everyone. If the only success is millions of viewers and $10,000/mo, well... good luck, I guess! haha
I've come to learn that it was not at all a coincidence that once I found a community of co-workers (who are awesome humans), and then sought out and nurtured beautiful soul-quenching friendships within that community I was able to walk away from social media for good. And goodness did my creativity take off! In the words of T. Swift 'we are never ever, ever – getting back together!'.
Thanks for such an inspiring post. Hosting a real life meet up has been on my to do list for ages but keeps getting pushed down the priority pile. Thanks for reminding me how important it is.
In, real-life meet up sounds SO fun, but also challenging! It's hard to make that happen, but I bet it'd be sooo rewarding. I do virtual hangouts quite a bit and love them.
Pre-Covid we used to have a bunch of fellow crafters who would meet up for coffee and general chat. We stopped and have somehow not found the impetus to get going again, but I'm going to send a few emails and see if we can get started again. I miss it.
I've been trying to get paid doing what I love, and after 25+ years (yes, I'm stubborn) I have to conclude something similar. I don't think it's entirely impossible but you need a bunch of privileges and luck.
YEP - I've seen it lots in music; super talented, gifted musicians that just go nowhere, while run-of-the-mill acts break through and become huge. It ain't fair, but life ain't fair.. bleh!
What I see around me is that people with (financial) privileges have the time and space to create art, to invest time to get their name out, while a lot of artist struggle to get work out because they have to work other jobs to pay the bills.
I've been working on a post about the financial privileges of artists for a few weeks now, including doing research, and found it very interesting the read how your financial background (aka your family's money) determines whether you get to be an artist. There are people coming from the working class, or with no money, that become an artist (I'm one of them) but it gets harder and harder, as prices don't go up in my business. I get paid the same rates as 15 years ago. Count in inflation, and you get that I'm making less money each year. It's getting un-doable for me to work in the creative industry, while clients demand more and more.
I'm already posting an essay here, I'll keep that for post :) But I do think it's worrying that art is becoming an avenue again that's only accessible for the wealthy and elite.
If it’s not possible to get paid doing what we love…what’s the alternative that’s not going back to toxic work places? I’m curious to hear more about why you think this is a fallacy or a false narrative we’re fed from big tech. ☺️
Well, big tech exists firstly to make lots of money, not give a crap about our art, or doing what we love.
I've seen this happen with MySpace (hey bands, you don't need a website anymore!), and Facebook (pivot to video, no wait)... so it lured creative people in with the allure of building an audience, then turned around and charged you to reach that same audience.
I DO think we can do what we love, but I don't think the sparkly marketing that a lot of these companies are doing is in the best interest of the "creative economy." Nor should it be... they exist to grow profits and create value for shareholders, and that's their right! Same as it is mine to not set up shop there.
And Substack - do they exist to make profits and all that? OH YES. This is a tool, nothing more. And the whole time I am building an email list that I own and can export and go somewhere else whenever I want.
Thanks for the clarification! That makes a lot of sense. I thought you were telling us it wasn't possible to make money doing what we love PERIOD. And if that were true that would be very sad indeed. Doing it outside of these major platforms and not being dependent on them...I'm allll for that! (And owning our own lists and our own music ala T-Swift).
Like, TV people not getting residuals anymore, musicians don't see album sales like they used to... doing what you love to do it very VERY hard these days.
THANKFULLY (I knock on wood 3000 times a day) there's some pretty okay people to work for, that aren't big mean jerks, so then working doesn't have to be toxic and horrible. Only took me til I'm nearly 48 to find that, though! WEEEE
That gives me hope, though! I'm in the query process for my first novel and just learning about the traditional publishing industry can feel very off-putting. I'm trying to go into it with eyes wide-open and a bit of optimism, too. It's hard to always maintain that balance! In a capitalist society, we can't totally escape becoming commodities.
So....time to shift the values of our society and create a new one? 😉
Oh my goodness, the stories I've seen about working with the PUBLISHING industry. Pretty much on par with the music industry world that I'm from.
And yes.. I'm all for shifting values. This whole "well everyone just streams music now," except there ARE artists out there selling 1000s of vinyl records and CDS and 100s of cassettes!
As Jay Acunzo says "Don't be the best. Be their favorite."
YES! I while we might've watched FOUR HOURS of TV a night, that was like... a few different shows, whereas now we watch four hours of footage in 5 second increments - who knows what long term effect that has!
Exactly! And in those four hours, you'd maybe have an hour of commercials, where you might play or do something that didn't involve consuming media. It's wild how little stillness we have nowadays and I'm so glad you're out there talking about it!
There's a SNL Do Not Destroy skit where one of them says, "remember dancing?"
And seriously I just thought, "remember commercials?" Like, in the sense of watching real cable TV, and all those breaks! But you're right now - now there's ZERO break. Straight video, 4K, beamed right into our eyeballs.
Seth you’re such an inspiration ! Let’s do it, let’s connect, we’re more powerful than they are, if we don’t trust them anymore and go somewhere else/ do something else, what’s they gonna do ?
I love this. I’ve been reading Lynda Berry’s Making Comics for the past month and working up to making a zine. So many links in this post are ideally timed for what I’m thinking about and doing! Thank you for continuing to inspire!
Social media was meant to be a blessing and has turned out to be a downfall. I left Twitter in December because it was slowly destroying me. I was exhausted of campaigning against racism, fascism, anti-Semitism, Russian trolls and other filth.
Yep x 1000. Exhausting is the right word for it.
Thank you for this post!
It was very interesting for me to read some of your thoughts, since I am currently working on my own article about how Instagram has harmed my art and creativity. I have already written the first part, but the more I look into it and I reflect on myself, the more I begin to see how profound these changes are, affecting not only my art, but also the way I think, work and interact with people. So I want to write about that as well and this is how I came across your article.
It is ironic, in a way, that it is the SOCIAL media which made us all feel very isolated. Even now, as I am writing this, I realize that I have lost the skill and the motivation behind genuinely interacting with people online. It wasn't always like this, but after spending years on Instagram, where deep and meaningful communication is rare, I find this feeling of reaching out to other people foreign and a little bit awkward. It's not easy to undo this programming of the social media. Or should I say ANTI-social media eheh
As for the post-social media world - I've never thought about it this way.... hmm.. I wonder what it would look like?.. I'm afraid it might be a mess, because of the mental/psychological damage it has inflicted upon all of us. I am going to explore this in more detail in my next article, but to make it very short, I believe that the problem is not only the isolation and loss of proper communication skills, but it has also affected our self-esteem. Speaking from the point of view of an artist, if I am creating "content" (drawings and artworks, actually, I hate to call it CONTENT) and there is little "engagement" over the course of several years, if I fail to attract new following and nobody is liking or even noticing my art, of course I am going to internalize this, thinking that something is wrong with my drawings, that I'm probably not (doing) enough, that I am a failure, not a good artist (or a writer). This is a huge blow to an Ego, and thus it might be indeed difficult or almost impossible to feel worthy charging money for the art or writing you are making. Kind of like being programmed for failure by the feedback loop you've got on the social media platform. (Yet at the same time, money is being made from us creating content for the platform, to keep each other glued to it) It's really sick... and sad!
It is just my perspective, but I thought I would share. This is why I do think that it is theoretically still possible to earn with what you like, however if you have sustained such a heavy blow to your self-worth and self-esteem as a creative (who is usually already more sensitive to rejection), this might become very challenging indeed. But I want to believe that it's not impossible, if there is a will..
Good luck with what you are doing and have a kind day!
I love that you quoted Kyle Fitzpatrick from the Trend Report.
In line with what you're saying, they also said: "Getting paid to “do the thing you love” as a creative is not reality: it’s an unreal promise that the tech industry gave us, to exploit us before discarding us — and we’re at the end of that lifecycle."
Yeah, I loved that quote! I just really wanna lean into making things work for "creatives" in a way that isn't exploited by those dumb companies. Use them as tools, sure, but don't build our entire brand and spend all our energy building sand castles on their beaches.
They've done a very good job at a good job at setting up those beaches... Great metaphor
Love everything about this post Seth--thank you!! And ok, wow--who is this lovely man HINDZ? Oh my! I hope he has some sort of online platform where he reads bedtime stories to people? What a soul-soother. Thanks for sharing your words of encouragement and his!! Needed this today (and everyday)! 😉
You HAVE to watch his new clip, it is SO good. Saying what we've talked about - COMMUNITY. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvQA8iYb5FQ
PS--love the photo btw! Nice sunset.
thank you thank you! I had a lot of fun making that photo out there in woods!
Great post and message Seth (and not just because my zine and ducks are featured!) We need community as artists, and there are many ways beyond social media to make those connections.
Thanks for this Seth, it's inspiring!
I used to believe that I should do what I love, and success will come. But recently I was made clear to me that this is not true, at least not always.
The famous Steve Job's quote says "Love what you do" - it is NOT "Do what you Love"!
This is very clear to me, and I've plenty enough example of people wasting time trying to do what they love and no success came to them.
The Survivor Bias is indeed very prevalent in our society, and we often times are blinded to the success of this one person, and forget that there were millions that failed.
Btwy, great video about focus there, I'm also using an app to keep my focus and reduce my time on screen.
I actually wrote about this recently where I featured Opal (and others): https://lifeapprentice.substack.com/p/11-tips-to-fight-social-media-addiction
Thank you, Chris! Yeah, "success" is going to be different for everyone. If the only success is millions of viewers and $10,000/mo, well... good luck, I guess! haha
Speaking of focus, I've been a big fan of virutal co-working with Flown (referral link): https://flown.com/join-flown-referral-page?referral=seth-werkheiser-7af09
Been doing that for a about two weeks now and LOVE IT.
I will check it out 👍🏽
Just one thing to say....I am SO GLAD I found your newsletter. I love reading shit that validates my inner being 😁
Oh my - thank you! Plenty more fun stuff ahead!
I've come to learn that it was not at all a coincidence that once I found a community of co-workers (who are awesome humans), and then sought out and nurtured beautiful soul-quenching friendships within that community I was able to walk away from social media for good. And goodness did my creativity take off! In the words of T. Swift 'we are never ever, ever – getting back together!'.
YESSSS! When we have SUPPORT around us it's easier to walk away from things that no longer serve us!
Thanks for such an inspiring post. Hosting a real life meet up has been on my to do list for ages but keeps getting pushed down the priority pile. Thanks for reminding me how important it is.
In, real-life meet up sounds SO fun, but also challenging! It's hard to make that happen, but I bet it'd be sooo rewarding. I do virtual hangouts quite a bit and love them.
Pre-Covid we used to have a bunch of fellow crafters who would meet up for coffee and general chat. We stopped and have somehow not found the impetus to get going again, but I'm going to send a few emails and see if we can get started again. I miss it.
that sounds sooo nice!
Thanks Seth, always enjoy reading your posts!
I've been trying to get paid doing what I love, and after 25+ years (yes, I'm stubborn) I have to conclude something similar. I don't think it's entirely impossible but you need a bunch of privileges and luck.
YEP - I've seen it lots in music; super talented, gifted musicians that just go nowhere, while run-of-the-mill acts break through and become huge. It ain't fair, but life ain't fair.. bleh!
What I see around me is that people with (financial) privileges have the time and space to create art, to invest time to get their name out, while a lot of artist struggle to get work out because they have to work other jobs to pay the bills.
I've been working on a post about the financial privileges of artists for a few weeks now, including doing research, and found it very interesting the read how your financial background (aka your family's money) determines whether you get to be an artist. There are people coming from the working class, or with no money, that become an artist (I'm one of them) but it gets harder and harder, as prices don't go up in my business. I get paid the same rates as 15 years ago. Count in inflation, and you get that I'm making less money each year. It's getting un-doable for me to work in the creative industry, while clients demand more and more.
I'm already posting an essay here, I'll keep that for post :) But I do think it's worrying that art is becoming an avenue again that's only accessible for the wealthy and elite.
If it’s not possible to get paid doing what we love…what’s the alternative that’s not going back to toxic work places? I’m curious to hear more about why you think this is a fallacy or a false narrative we’re fed from big tech. ☺️
Well, big tech exists firstly to make lots of money, not give a crap about our art, or doing what we love.
I've seen this happen with MySpace (hey bands, you don't need a website anymore!), and Facebook (pivot to video, no wait)... so it lured creative people in with the allure of building an audience, then turned around and charged you to reach that same audience.
I DO think we can do what we love, but I don't think the sparkly marketing that a lot of these companies are doing is in the best interest of the "creative economy." Nor should it be... they exist to grow profits and create value for shareholders, and that's their right! Same as it is mine to not set up shop there.
And Substack - do they exist to make profits and all that? OH YES. This is a tool, nothing more. And the whole time I am building an email list that I own and can export and go somewhere else whenever I want.
Thanks for the clarification! That makes a lot of sense. I thought you were telling us it wasn't possible to make money doing what we love PERIOD. And if that were true that would be very sad indeed. Doing it outside of these major platforms and not being dependent on them...I'm allll for that! (And owning our own lists and our own music ala T-Swift).
I got a similar impression from that quote. It looked so dark and depressing (and wrong).
Did you click over to the Trend Report and read the whole thing? I loved that piece.
I've now read it. I think your posts are better. I'd rather read your own take.
Hah! Well it was just a tiny thing I linked... perhaps I'll do something on the "state of the creator economy" down the road.
No but I will now! :)
Yeah - did you get this from the quote I linked? From The Trend Report? THAT was pretty direct, but I get the gist of it.
https://1234kyle5678.substack.com/p/creative-work-sucks-rn
Like, TV people not getting residuals anymore, musicians don't see album sales like they used to... doing what you love to do it very VERY hard these days.
THANKFULLY (I knock on wood 3000 times a day) there's some pretty okay people to work for, that aren't big mean jerks, so then working doesn't have to be toxic and horrible. Only took me til I'm nearly 48 to find that, though! WEEEE
That gives me hope, though! I'm in the query process for my first novel and just learning about the traditional publishing industry can feel very off-putting. I'm trying to go into it with eyes wide-open and a bit of optimism, too. It's hard to always maintain that balance! In a capitalist society, we can't totally escape becoming commodities.
So....time to shift the values of our society and create a new one? 😉
Oh my goodness, the stories I've seen about working with the PUBLISHING industry. Pretty much on par with the music industry world that I'm from.
And yes.. I'm all for shifting values. This whole "well everyone just streams music now," except there ARE artists out there selling 1000s of vinyl records and CDS and 100s of cassettes!
As Jay Acunzo says "Don't be the best. Be their favorite."
Remember when TV rotted our brains? Social media makes watching TV feel like a wholesome way to spend time!
Hahaha I agree, Beth!
YES! I while we might've watched FOUR HOURS of TV a night, that was like... a few different shows, whereas now we watch four hours of footage in 5 second increments - who knows what long term effect that has!
Exactly! And in those four hours, you'd maybe have an hour of commercials, where you might play or do something that didn't involve consuming media. It's wild how little stillness we have nowadays and I'm so glad you're out there talking about it!
There's a SNL Do Not Destroy skit where one of them says, "remember dancing?"
And seriously I just thought, "remember commercials?" Like, in the sense of watching real cable TV, and all those breaks! But you're right now - now there's ZERO break. Straight video, 4K, beamed right into our eyeballs.
yes yes yes (and thanks for the shout)
Absolutely!
Seth you’re such an inspiration ! Let’s do it, let’s connect, we’re more powerful than they are, if we don’t trust them anymore and go somewhere else/ do something else, what’s they gonna do ?
YES! We got this. I deleted Twitter last summer and guess what? NOTHING HAPPENED! WEEEE!
I love this. I’ve been reading Lynda Berry’s Making Comics for the past month and working up to making a zine. So many links in this post are ideally timed for what I’m thinking about and doing! Thank you for continuing to inspire!
Thanks for including me Seth.
Absolutely! So glad you ran with that idea.