The attention wars of the internet run primarily on advertising and fear-mongering. Itโs either for sale or itโs coming to kill you. You must click to learn more!
And letโs be real for a second, arenโt we all a little tired of being advertised to? Like, wouldnโt you simply like to look at some pretty art, or listen to some cool music, or read some interesting stories, and not have yet another product shoved in your face?
Tell me Iโm not alone in this.
But, once in a while, we see somethingโฆ different. Something that feels real, or human, or you knowโฆ substantial. Who made it, how did they make it, and did they have to market it a ton for you to even see it in the first place?
What if you were that creator?
Who do we make things for? In an age of social media, this is an essential question to ask ourselves. It isnโt a bad or useless question, but perhaps we donโt sit with it quite as long as we should.
Was a piece curated for the audience, inception to finished product? Or did we just find it along the way?
For meโฆ Iโm not sure who I write for. And this has posed a problem when sharing my musings online. In most cases, I think my messages fall on deaf ears, because I am simultaneously thinking about the audience I want from the very beginning, and later on, not at all โ you know, when it actually counts.
Is starting something from the very beginning with the audience in mind a bad move? No, I donโt think so. But are you making art or a product? Are you making something enjoyable for a consumer to purchase or a masterpiece from the deepest parts of your soul?
I think there is a current disconnect between these ideas in the age of the internet and hyper-capitalism. If you canโt sell something, is it even worth making in the first place? If it isnโt alluring, making other people online jealous or envious, is it even worth showcasing?
And then, there are the rest of us, just making things. No ulterior motive. Just sharing things we enjoy and love on the internet.
โLook at this thing I made the other day.โ
Soon, we are pressured to make that a side-hustle too.
โUse more SEO-friendly tags and titles.โ
โPost everyday at this time.โ
โDo a giveaway.โ
โGet the clip down to 5 seconds and maybe people wonโt click away.โ
โGet louder and use this kind of musicโฆ NO, not that kind of music!โ
More hoops to jump through, all without the promise of accessible reward without more hoop-jumping.
Are we ever appreciating the artist or the art for its own sake?
We are largely unseen, unheard, and mostly untested.
Am I wrong for just wanting my writing โ which I call my art, my magic โ to have a place where people can read and enjoy without prompting or coercion?
Now donโt get me wrong, do I think marketing has no value? Absolutely not. Marketing, done correctly, can be an extremely powerful force. I donโt think we realize just how much of our collective subconscious and sayings originally came from advertising slogans โ the United States especially.
Marketing, getting something you made and want to sell in front of as many eyes as possible, isnโt something malicious or bad in and of itself, but perhaps is becoming too much of the entire point.
I donโt think itโs fair that we are not being allowed or given space to just โexistโ on the internet. And yeah, perhaps being more loud, colorful, or sensational would attract more attention to the things we make and want to show off, but I think sometimes just letting things exist and breathe for their own sake is what is needed.
Which is why I askโฆ for whom do you create things? When and how do their opinions and needs enter your mind?
As a recovering perfectionist, I think I know my answer. I imagine how my writing would be received too early in the process, instead of just writing what means the most to me in that moment.
If Iโm writing a story I feel connected to and like the idea of so much, that Iโd put in hours and hours and hours of work to see it come to life, then the readers donโt really have a place in that process โ at least, not for a long time.
If you create to be seen and supported monetarily, I donโt think you are bad. You are doing what makes sense to you and contributing to the economy that feeds me too. But is that sustainable?
Better art โ art that means the world to someone once they experience it, perhaps only coming across that art by chance โ comes from artists who make things they care about; they wish to indulge in making a dream of theirs come into reality. That was the whole point, and they gained a fan through luck and circumstance.
When you ask yourself the question: who or what do you create for? โ Just be honest with yourself and your needs. Maybe the most freeing and effective way to create can come from a drive and source you never expected to find.
I write everything on this page myself. Thatโs why itโs so scuffed.
But not as scuffed as generative A.I. would make it. :P