teawithantigone: In my last post I mentioned how annoyed I am with social media being geared towards
teawithantigone: In my last post I mentioned how annoyed I am with social media being geared towards getting us to consume more rather than create more. While the internet is a great resource in some respects, the constant comparison that social media drives (and having access to the work of SO many writers and artists who seem SO much more qualified and talented and skilled than I feel) it’s easy to never work up the courage to create something of my own. The endless scroll makes creating more difficult because surely whatever idea you have it’s been done already. And a quick Google reveals it’s been done better than you think you could. This voice of perfectionism will squash any creative idea, but I wonder: is it a rational voice? Does it make sense to judge your life on this massive scale, comparing yourself to people whose lives might be wildly different from yours? To give up on trying to being a good writer because there are already great writers out there? On their website, the Centre for Humane Technology (who, I think quite pointedly, don’t have an Instagram page, so I can’t tag them) states the following: “Our habit of measuring ourselves against others sometimes inspires us to achieve more, but comparisons more commonly lead to negative emotions: envy, shame, anxiety, or conceit. Social media dramatically escalates the scope and stakes of our comparisons. It floods us with highly curated images featuring people in select moments showing only what they want you to see. Influencers establish standards of excellence and we tether our self-image to those ideals. [Likes] become a commentary on the deepest part of ourselves.” Add to that machines working to figure out what to show you in order to keep you scrolling for longer… do we even stand a chance?! I do think we stand a chance, actually. Especially thanks to artists and writers like Anne Lamott who light the way. She reminds us: [continued in comments]https://www.instagram.com/p/CRmexRVLaI6/?utm_medium=tumblr -- source link