When I read articles like this, it’s hard not to feel like the whole experiment around social media – in terms of communities, not in terms of the companies themselves, which are horrible in their own right – was a huge mistake.
The intersection of being a performer or celebrity with fame – not money, fame – has always been fraught with problems, but social media and the impact it’s had on developing a reputation in relation to any number of things, has made a lot of things markedly worse. Including everyday life for a huge number of people in the general public. Personally, as an artist and performer, it makes me all the more committed to not chasing after fame in any way, shape or form. If it happens, I’ll deal with it, but chase after it? No. That’s always been a given for me anyway – I’m interested in how my work can make an actual difference in the world, including on an individual level, not fame per se – but seeing how the past 10-12 years have unfolded, ups my determination to not be part of that particular meat grinder. What the fuck is the point? It’s not even reflective of the rather precarious and limited chances of being under contract turning into a sustainable career. Instead, it’s just grinding people up, spitting them out, and leaving them (and whatever mental health issues arise from all of it, beginning to end) to fend for themselves.
Things are *palpably* worse.
Becoming burned out and depressed has always been a risk, but it’s starting to become the norm – and the more successful you are, the greater the chances are of that happening. In ways that are definitely skewed way past what went on for previous generations, from all indications, on a percentage basis. It’s not ok.
I feel like using my skills to “brand build” as an artist online is at least potentially contributing to this, just by the doing of it. It’s getting past the point of being able to outrun or outsmart the worst trends that keep happening, because how do you outsmart an algorithm? Especially reflexively, and with no ability to counter-assess whatever is actually going on at a technical level.
All of which makes me more determined to make the work the emphasis, rather than me (or let’s be honest, a performative or even simulacra version of me, because that’s a lot of what having an “influencer”-level social media presence is about, much of the time). Otherwise, it becomes this representation-less, non-unionized snake pit of 100 hour weeks and constant instability, daily. If I wanted all that, I’d become a programmer. /rimshot But damn if there’s not a huge amount of pressure to have “social media” be its own career. On top of the creative work itself and marketing yourself. It’s like hyper-marketing on steroids – pure spectacle and identity-less celebrity. Hearing “You need to plan on spending 20 hours a week on social media” is a really common refrain. Being a working artist is hard, and it’s gotten even harder. It takes 10-14 hour days, typically for six or seven days a week, just to keep up. That’s *before* building an active, “brand-focused” presence on social media.
Something has to give, and give it will. Sooner or later, and given how long this has been going on, very likely sooner. This idea of being an influencer has driven the worst aspects of the culture industry into overdrive.
There’s this assumption, both by brands and the public that “influencer” is both a noun and a verb:
“What do you do?”
“I’m an influencer.”
“OK, but what do you influence?”
“The public.”
“About…?”
“What are you, old?”
“No, really.”
“I do hair and makeup tutorials.” (Which is where the actual skillset that’s driving everything is)
But the collective presumption (and trend) is more like this:
“What do you do?”
“I’m an influencer.”
*Narrator voice* “And then, the algorithm converted their influence into pure profit” *cash register noise*”
So to see young people jumping on being an influencer, the way people used to jump on actual, hopefully sustainable careers in the public eye, followed by all that comes with that – like people dunking on you because your stats dropped for a bit, or getting hate mail for whatever bullshit reason, most of the time – play itself out for, oh, 18 months or less until someone just quits, burned out and depressed? Not ok.
Film and TV drove the idea of celebrity being its own thing into overdrive, then social media took the idea of that, and made being an influencer into its own thing on top of that. Such that “being an influencer” is its own aspirational goal in the culture industry – but it means…well, nothing. What people actually do while being that may or may not be something, but the “influencing” itself is not. Just like celebrity was, and is – only worse.
Worse yet, instead of people blaming corporations, they blame young people who are just responding to the world around them! Which is a “Dunk on whoever the current generation happens to be, rather than taking responsibility for your part in how horrible things have become” boomer kind of move.
We, the collective whatever-we-are “citizens of the internet” from all walks of life, of all ages, but especially those who are most likely to suffer the worst effects of being online, need to address this head-on, and fix it for good.
