Social Medias Exhaustion
Are we getting old or is the world fucked up?
Yes yes, I know, I talk a lot about this stuff lately but it takes so much space in everything I do, or WE do. And it has an impact on everything too. And the more I think about it and the more I find out that I am exhausted of that situation: trying to figure out how to manage a creative business without selling my soul.
In other posts, I talked about the fact that the 3 first months of the year, I lost a bit my mind because of revenues. I needed to make some money to pay my bills. And I ended up beginning of April totally tired from that situation. I took a break, I recovered on sleep. But since, I don’t find the energy anymore to promote my stuff, to publish on social medias, to be consistent, and I don’t talk about making videos…
This week I came across that thread from Swiss Miss:
The replies to this post go in the same direction: we are more and more to be tired of social medias. And here I don’t talk about engagement or followers or algorithm. I talk about using them for inspiration, getting informed, etc.
We consume so much info everyday. We get involved in so many discussions. We bookmark so many things we probably won’t check out later. And if I talk about Art and inspiration, we see so many “interesting” things everyday on Instagram, that at some point we might get overwhelmed and blocked in our creative process.
We can’t digest so much. We are not meant to do that.
So it does create a stress, a kind of FOMO. And we get exhausted.
And again I just talk about consumption here, don’t even get me started on the communication/promotion side of things where we continue to spend a lot of time promoting our work on platforms where mostly nobody see it. We get angry, upset, frustrated but when you look at it closer, you continue to do it. And we get exhausted too to find new ideas so people get to see what we do.
On that part, Lisa Congdon did republish a post she already published in 2021. And the situation today is the same. The golden age of social medias is gone! But we still continue to be there, we still continue to feed Meta. Because, well, “you never know”. Mosseri might change his mind. But he won’t, because it’s not good for his business.
Read her caption. What was relevant in 2021 is still relevant today.
The impact of that situation is huge on mental health of creative people, and especially those using social medias for their business. It is important to talk about it and it is important to find solutions. But each one of us in our own business won’t change the system.
The other week I was also listening to a podcast episode of “In the making”, one of the podcasts of Adobe. But I was shocked to hear about the “creator economy” as a kind of startup environment and how the future of “creator economy” was bright. And also interesting was that the guy invited is a tech guy coming from some Silicon Valley, who was digging in a more artistic career but more by creating more CONTENT than Art itself.
And when you know that Adobe is also pushing Generative AI ads on the Internet right now, you can feel even more abandoned by the people who should be supporting you. But well, thinking about it, I wonder when was the last time Adobe did care about creatives… Oh well…
Tech making the push into creative environment is stronger and stronger in every direction: illustration, writing, music, etc. Last week I was sharing the website Suno.com to a musician friend. Suno makes complete songs, music and lyrics, from your prompt, in 15 seconds. My friend just spent the last 2 years working like hell trying to make good music and sell it editors but also online platforms.
And just to confirme that point, I heard lately about a Swedish artist who created 2700 songs (probably using AI) in a short amount of time, created more than 600 accounts on Spotify and made more than $10 billion of revenues. Which is more than mostly of the greatest artists we all know.
So there is A LOT to be exhausted about. Remind yourself that YOU ARE NOT the problem. The system is the problem.
It was always difficult to be an artist. It was never easy. And it will probably never be. But right now is especially difficult for all of us. We might face one of the larger crisis but also many big changes in our industry. And it is time to stop, step back, and think about what we could do. But most importantly and first of all, we should all step back and be indulgent with ourselves. You do your best. You do great. Again, you are not the problem.
Inspiration of the day!
Let’s continue today’s post with a great artist my friend Pierre-Etienne shared with me. Here is the work of Liesbet Boudens, a lettering and calligraphy artist from Netherlands or Belgium I think:
The last issue of BLAG is out!
BLAG is THE Sign Painting magazine we should all have as it is so interesting to read for many reasons. I talked about it last year when it launched but the work put behind the magazine is huge. And even if you don’t do Sign Painting, the different stories are fascinating. If I had to pick one subject in this 4th issue, that would be the one about Casual type and where it comes from. Also the magazine itself is really nice, well designed and printed. It really is a must have.
Sam Roberts, the guy behind BLAG, sent me a nice message telling me he could offer my community a discount if you want to subscribe to BLAG. Thanks a lot Sam. So if you are interested, here are the options:
Here are a couple of things you could include, one or both is up to you.
25% off the monthly Blagger plan for the first year; so $9/month instead of $12/month. This includes the print magazine, starting with Issue 04, full digital access, and other benefits.
Custom link is https://bl.ag/fc25
$20 off the annual Blagger plan for the first year; so $99 instead of $119. The benefits are the same as above, with the bonus that until the end of May I'll include Issue 03 with the first delivery with Issue 04.
Custom link is https://bl.ag/fc20
(Hmhmhmhmhmhm… this one above could relate to the topic I talked about today :)))
This is it for today. Enjoy your weekend. Take some time off, go out for a hike. And don’t forget that best ideas come when you are far away from your screens. It works also for solving problems. So yes, please go outside :)
Take care,
Francis
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Thank you for sharing. This post gave me a lot to think about as someone who is just starting out, and now questioning how much energy to put into social media.
The world is fucked up, and maybe we are getting older and we disagree on the direction of the world is taking hehe I do for sure. Also, everything that you have said resonates so much. I've been a bit more active than usual on IG trying to share my work, produce a bit more while having fun, but yesterday I decided I must stop after learning all our content in IG is going to be used to train Meta AI, depending where you located.
Anyway, thanks a lot for writing this newsletter ✨