The Social Media Conversation
The problem: we’ve become obsessed with numbers. We define success by numbers and thereby, spend the best of our days chasing statistics – I’m as guilty as the rest of us. Let me explain.
Over the last year or so, when I started to take social media (mainly Instagram) more seriously with regards to my art, what began as a marketing strategy slowly began to take over my work and dominate my daily life. Eventually, there was no spare moment when I wasn’t checking these apps. Standing at checkout? Check app. Having lunch? Check app. Woke up? Going to sleep? Speaking to someone? Check app. Think about it, and you’ll probably realise that part is true for you, too.
Note: This post was written before my decision to announce I’d be leaving Instagram on 1st July 2018 – that being said, the points in this post are still valid and I hope they can be of benefit.
What began as a strategy to promote my work and build a relationship with an audience morphed into a dopamine-driven fixation. Combined with the ‘trigger’ instinct to constantly check-in, social media is responsible for our habits of overworking, consuming an unhealthy amount of information per minute and setting ourselves unattainable goals based on subconscious influence. Reminds me of those awful magazines my friends would buy when we were younger; unrealistic narratives, edited perfection and the concealing of raw unrefined reality.
Even if you love your work and are dedicated to your field (hey, artists!), you need a break and you need boundaries. Stress, burnout and overdrive are real. Mental health is real. Let’s stop working ourselves into delirium. I remember when starting out on Instagram, I repeatedly read articles advising how ‘crucial’ it was to ‘engage with your audience by uploading two to three times daily’, whilst also making those posts visually cinematic, philosophical enough to make Socrates weep and so hipster that Shoreditch cafes would quote your Instagram handle in their edgy window displays. And oh, don’t forget to actually also dedicate some time to your craft. Remember your craft?
The ‘double-tap and scroll’ routine has warped our judgement of time and skill, and sent our minds into absolute overdrive gradually throughout the day. Perhaps, then, it’s no wonder that so many of us struggle with restless minds and trouble sleeping, overworked and overwhelmed by the devices almost surgically attached to us at all hours of the day.
Recent years have undoubtedly seen a rise in demand for relaxation apps, and more recently, apps to monitor our usage of.. Apps. Yep, you read that correctly. Not to sound like a frantic maniac but it is obvious: we must reclaim control over our time to reclaim control over our lives. Social media used to work for us, now we’re working all hours for social media.
As an artist, I love Instagram as a social platform and an invaluable marketing tool, but I don’t love the side effects of its numbers game nor the negative impact it can have on my creativity. Pros and cons. This is not Instagram’s fault but an issue you need to be aware of if you’re in this game. Control what is yours: your work.
If you found this post beneficial, please share. I’d also love for you to join me on my hopefully-more-balanced journey (follow me on Twitter) where I’d be more than happy to answer questions and feedback. See you there!
