Lately, I’ve been thinking about how the mindset of the modern musician/artist is influenced by social media. To start, there seems to be limitless possibilities when it comes to the music people can listen to, just by mere access to these sites. And, anyone can create a YouTube channel or a Facebook page (or other social media that is) and post their own content, which, don’t get me wrong can be a fantastic thing, but with these circumstances, I’ve noticed some complex issues arise.
For me, when I release a song, or some art I take great attention to what kind of reaction it gets because not only is art a personal creation but art is also a reflection of how the world is perceived by that individual, and other people take part in that world. The goal for me, and other artist I believe, is to make art that is not only personally fulfilling, but is a creation that is worthy of appreciation.
With social media, these aspirations can become ambiguous. Like, with how many views or likes do you feel your art has been validated? An artist with 50 views would be envious of the artist with 500, but wouldn’t the artist with 5 views be grateful for a paltry 15? With this relative comparison between the artist and their statistics, the essence of the ‘arrival fallacy” becomes apparent.
The arrival fallacy explains how we keep pushing and pushing towards a goal, thinking that once we ‘arrive’ or achieve what were after, we will be and remain happy. But if your a human being reading this (most likely), chances are you know this is not the case. Instead, once we get ‘there’, the feeling of accomplishment is only transient, and can actually leave us not knowing what direction to go.
But I don’t think this is all that bad. Like, this is what keeps people going and continually creating. And, perhaps it’s best we don’t arrive at some final destination where we are absolutely content and happy, because once we have it all, what then? What would be the point of doing anything, if your not in a state of perpetual striving? And if we were hypothetically so content to not have a problem with just sitting around doing nothing, is that something that even seems desirable?
‘Those who have a why to live can bear with almost any how” is a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche that I would like to draw some connections to. I’ve explained how the ‘arrival fallacy’ and social media statistics has the potential to be the more negative aspects of being an artist, but a shift in perspective can completely 180 this. I believe that social media is designed with the arrival fallacy in mind while simultaneously determining how success is measured. I’ll attempt to explain what I mean.
Like, if you measure your artistic success off of social media engagement, you are for one, completely at the whim of the sites algorithms (which is the prioritization of what content is presented to the user, shadow banning, etc.). Two, you are (most likely) hoping to get a genuine connection from someone who is entering the app (most often then not) for superficial entertainment. And three, you are in a constant competition for attention with a truly staggering amount of people, each with their own desire for attention. The outcomes, and performance on social media has a dramatic impact on users mental health.
But, getting back to Nietzsche’s quote. I believe that success and meaning are values which come from within. Only when one has determined their own unique ‘why’ can they deal with the ‘how’s. Substituting ‘statistical success’ for personal meaning/fulfillment is needless to say an unwise endeavor.
But, none of this is necessarily groundbreaking to say. It’s not surprising that issues can arise out of communication platforms, or that people have difficulties calibrating their perceptions of success to their statistics, mostly because we don’t have a lot of experience with this kind of thing. My best approach is to use social media with the responsibility it warrants and not get too caught up in the stats, but rather be very grateful for the audience I have. I’d rather have more genuine connections, although few in number, than a sea of meaningless likes.
With that being said, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next week. Thanks.
About the Author
Isaiah Grip is a 21 year old multi-instrumentalist composer (guitar, piano, violin, and voice) out of Longmont, Colorado who records and studies music independently under the name Tetra Veda, as well as collaborating with Ghostwrite Inc, and playing guitar in the progressive metal band Cloud Temple. His personal repertoire can be found on Bandcamp and YouTube under the name Tetra Veda.
Never give too much deference to social media statistics or numbers if you have love of your particular art. Low numbers haven't stopped me, and I've been at it since 2007 telling stories.
Give care to the craft, and it will take care of you. Peace.
Keep writing and making music and good sense.