Do you REALLY need social media as an artist?
The end of 2021 represents a “house cleaning” of sorts for me. All year I’ve been struggling with how to focus my energy into becoming the best artist I can be. And I’ve come to realize that most of that energy has gone into sharing my art online which has actually stunted my growth.
I’ve been posting my artwork to social media for a few years now, selling prints here and there on Etsy and through my website. In 2020 I even filmed a few episodes of a little weekly art class I called “Quarantine Coloring”. After a few weeks of that show, I realized teaching (something I’ve never done) was draining me, especially when the subject matter is easy enough for kids and beginners to do. A friend even commented to me later that they were shocked to see that my personal artwork was so good in comparison to the paintings I did for that show. I immediately woke up to the fact that the artwork I put out into the world is the artwork people are going to associate with me.
So in 2021 I tried to share what I truly loved to do on Instagram - complex paintings with ideas and stories behind them. But even this was unsatisfying. I experimented with Instagram Reels and even when I got 300+ likes on one and got close to my first 1000 followers, I still felt this low level anxiety buzzing underneath it all. The need to up the ante in the next post and make sure I put it out as soon as possible to catch the algorithm.
But a few months ago, I found an artist named Julia Bausenhardt on Youtube who has a series of videos explaining her decision to leave social media as an artist even with thousands of followers of her own. She references Cal Newport, the author of Digital Minimalism and Deep Work as her main inspiration for getting rid of her profiles.
I read these books, listened to Cal Newport’s TED Talk, and looked at my own life. I found that the reasons I use these apps could be transferred to more effective (and less toxic) methods like blogging, meeting artists and curators in real life, and (most importantly) adopting good art-making habits.
10 reasons I’m quitting social media:
Uploading my art to social media devalues my art because I am giving my art to these sites to use as content for free.
Having my art on social media perpetuates the idea that art is cheap and meant to be binged, “liked”, and swiped through quickly.
Social media distracts me and eats up my time.
Being successful on social media requires me to be a one-woman marketing machine and put my precious and limited time and energy into marketing instead of my art.
I’m leaving my success in art up to “getting found” on an app instead of taking charge of my career and building a valuable client base through real life interactions.
The art I do is heavily dictated by the algorithms and what people want to see instead of what I truly want to do.
I don’t want to encourage people to use the apps in order to see my work.
I don’t want to engage with people (or have them engage with my art) through shallow interactions. Likes, comments, and shares are all shallow substitutes to a meaningful connection.
Social media keeps me from taking risks and trying new hobbies. My life becomes segmented into my “work life” and my “internet life”
In social media, I see unfiltered thoughts and beliefs that cause me to self-censor when I’m interacting with people in real life. I see things I’m not meant to carry. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.
1 reason to keep social media:
Access to artists I admire around the globe. In the future, I may create a burner account that’s pure purpose will be to follow these artists.
I will be keeping YouTube and LinkedIn, but my usage of these will be very minimal and optimized in a way that protects me from being sucked in.
The point of this list is not to judge anyone for their own reasons for social media use (though I do believe most people would be much happier without it), but to share some reasons why I’m quitting it all. I don’t want to repeat what many people have already eloquently wrote about, so if you are interested in diving deeper, I highly recommend these videos and books:
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
Julia Bausenhardt: Why I quit social media - my advice for artists and creatives
Quit social media | Dr. Cal Newport | TEDxTysons
PROFESSOR Explains Why & How You Should QUIT SOCIAL MEDIA | Cal Newport & Lewis Howes
Cal Newport stresses the importance of replacing low-value leisure activities like social media with high-value leisure activities like hobbies and fixing things and social groups. I am entering 2022 keeping art practice in the forefront of my mind to explore what kind of artist I truly want to be. I have been floating between a million different interests in the art and story-telling fields for years and I think it’s about time I find out what I will choose.
