A Creative's Journey to Finding Yourself Outside the Algorithm
“No one outside ourselves can rule us inwardly. When we know this, we become free.” - Buddha
Disclaimer: Don’t miss the bonus message at the bottom of this post. 😉
A YouTuber I have followed for some time now is K.A. Emmons. Through her content, I became more serious about meditation and noticed how beneficial it is for creatives.
Earlier this year, she announced an online community that she had built called Rewildest Life. Within the community, she releases exclusive meditations, yoga practices, and virtual retreats that focus on returning to our wild, true selves.
Having loved her YouTube videos and approach to writing, creativity, and living in general, I immediately signed up.
During a five-day virtual retreat titled, “Escaping the Matrix,” she covered a range of topics such as digital minimalism, the consumerist mindset, and more. In one of those sessions, she dropped a question that has been lingering at the back of my mind since hearing it.
Who are you beyond the screen?
It’s become customary to film, record, or capture every little thing we do because you never know when you might need it for social media. But are you capturing it for yourself or your followers? Believe it or not, there’s a massive difference between the two and it could help you answer that question.
I was one of those people, reminding myself to take out my phone and snap whatever was going on in the moment. This will make a great image for a caption, I’d think, or this is great B-roll for a Reel.
But when I discovered I was forcing myself to film something because it was what my “ideal audience” would want to see, my resentment boiled over and the thought of posting made me break out into a sweaty mess of anxiety.
What good comes from this endless rat race where we fight for likes, follows, and engagement? Who are we ultimately serving? Not our mental state. At least that was my experience. The self-comparison, the jealousy, the envy, and the inability to recognize that behind the screen, that person could be struggling.
Wait, I’m also struggling, but content is king! Everything is content! I need to produce CONTENT! CONTENT! CONTENT!
My brain doesn’t connect to content creation. It’s never at the forefront of my mind. I force it there because that’s what we’re told to do.
Maybe it’s because, as a millennial, I lived my formative years without social media so the concept of content creation hangs out in the back of my brain until I’m ready for it. Yet, I’m as addicted to it as most of us walking this earth. And my sentimental self cannot seem to quit it completely. I’ve taken many social media breaks (the longest of which lasted 10 months). But leaving for good? I haven’t reached that point…yet.
When I’m experiencing something, my first instinct is not to pull out my phone and take a picture or video. It's simply to take it in for me.
Rather than take a picture, I prefer words, capturing the moment in my journal where it remains safe to look back on and perhaps expand into something more profound. My “audience” is not at the top of my mind when I’m out there living life or doing the mundane shit I do day in and day out. My audience is first and foremost me.
In this digital, over-sharing world of social media, some might say that’s the wrong mindset. That if I want people to read my books down the road and connect with me, the creator, I have to post and share, show my face, comment, engage, follow, like, etc.
In 2023, I shared a presentation where I gave tips on how to grow your Instagram audience without worrying about the algorithm. Many of those tips I learned from more experienced content creators and I adjusted them to work for me.
But nothing worked, because I realized I hate posting for posting’s sake. I hate concocting a strategy or having a content calendar. Interestingly enough, my day job requires exactly that: a strategy, because we handle a lot of different campaigns throughout the year from different departments, including our own.
I have the experience to do that for my personal life, but the point is I don’t want to.
Yes, we live in a world where social media marketing is a great way to get yourself and your work out there. But it’s not the only way.
And here's the truth: you have no control over the audience your content gets in front of. Sure, you’ll get lucky now and then, but the algorithm is not there for your benefit. It’s in place for the platform’s benefit. So it’s not technically “out to get you” because it needs you to feed it content. It needs you to give it more fodder to keep others trapped on the app so it can show them ads and earn more money.
If everyone stopped posting for one day, these platforms would be in trouble. Can you imagine if everyone stopped posting for a week? A month? A year?
Max Stossel, an award-winning poet, filmmaker, and speaker, has an incredible Domestika course called “Creative Writing: The Power of Words In the Modern World,” and in one lesson he talks about sharing your work, particularly on social media.
He states that art doesn’t care if it’s making you money and it doesn’t always need to have a purpose or call-to-action.
One of my favorite takeaways from the course is when he says that the creative act is one thing–sharing on social media is something else entirely. He emphasizes you should never post solely for likes and follows.
“Be an artist!” he stresses and “don’t let social media use you for content.”
Share because you want to, not because you’re seeking external validation, because you’ll never get enough of it, especially if one of your posts goes viral.
As for the aforementioned algorithm, Max claims that when you post, you’re putting your art into a slot machine. Once it’s live, you have no control over where it goes or who sees it aside from your followers, but even that’s not a given.
If this is all sounding harsh and like I’m standing on a soapbox, believe me, I know. But I see way too many creatives struggle over what to post and when to post that it becomes a way one ticket to burnout. I was one of them. And since I’m already burned out, I don’t need the pressure of a social media content strategy to add to it.
Don’t get me wrong. I want to do better. I want to post more because I feel like what I have in mind to share will resonate with people. And I do share, though often outside of social media. I share here and then provide snippets on Instagram.
I do plan on posting more, but not at the expense of my hanging-on-by-a-thread sanity. The minute I feel social media ramping up my anxiety or burnout symptoms, I’ll tap out because my mental health is more important than sticking to a posting schedule.
I trust my audience will find me when they need to. I have found many interesting accounts over the last few months at exactly the time that I needed to find them. Sometimes, just sometimes, the algorithm blesses my feed as I’m sure it does yours.
But I ask again: Who are you beyond the screen?
Can you live and experience life without the need to document it and later share it on social media? Do you even remember who you were before social media?
If you’ve made it this far into this rant, thank you. I know these arguments are probably not new to you, but they warrant being brought forward again if only to remind you that you are more than your social media feed. You are more than the content you create and share. You are more than likes, follows, and engagement.
Now, if social media has helped your small business grow or has given you a renewed sense of love for content creation, by all means, do you. I’ve certainly used it to promote items in the past. I still do.
But I implore you to keep an eye out and if you feel burnout creeping its way in, take a step back before it’s too late. Your feed will still be there even if you take a break. So will your audience.
If you don’t believe you are more than your feed or content, consider journaling about why you feel this way. Take some time today or whenever you can and answer these questions:
Who are you beyond the screen?
Do you post for yourself or your audience only?
What would happen if social media disappeared tomorrow?
And when in doubt, remove the app. Give yourself a break, even if it’s three days. Sometimes we need to remember who we are beyond the screen, beyond sharing, to really get back in touch with true ourselves.
If you’re interested in learning more about Kate’s community, Rewildest Life, check out the website to learn more. And if you’re interested in Max’s Domestika course, you can watch a trailer for it here.
What are your thoughts on the current status of social media? Do you feel it has become more difficult to separate who you are away from the screen? Do you post consistently or when the moment calls for it? Do you feel like these apps are becoming more addicting? Comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Until next time, I hope this message serves as a friendly reminder to look beyond the screen and reacquaint yourself with your innermost being. I guarantee you they are someone worth knowing. And know that it’s okay to turn off the app if it becomes too much.
Wishing you a beautiful day, my friend, wherever you are. 💜
Want to connect elsewhere?
Follow me on Instagram (it’s the only social media platform I’m on–barely 😉)
Thank you so much for all of these resources! You’ve helped me to accept my own position on social media and accept that likes aren’t personal. As a creative it’s a hard pill to swallow and I keep my social media and newsletter posts to a schedule, per your wise words, and it’s made a lot of difference to my own mental health!