Seeking attention on IG makes me less creative

Today I will discuss how I was obsessed with attention on social media and how I can stop seeking for it. Getting inspiration about this topic, I want to give big thanks to Joseph Gordon-Levitt for providing with useful analysis and information.

I have been using Instagram for such a long time, since 2015. Initially, it was just my personal account where I share my daily photos with my dear friends as an “Visual Diary”. Of course at that time, I had very few followers but I didn't care much about how low the number is. Then I started painting watercolor and shared several pieces of art on Instagram. In the beginning, I felt free to draw any thing in any topic that I’m interested in so those works are quite great and show my true color, as my friends commented. Also, I got a certain amount of attention from my followers, more likes, more shares, more comments, more followers as well. However everything became harder from now on. I paid more attention on how many likes I had and users I reached per post. I wasted so much time on Instagram insights and art trends to know more about the followers and how I can gain more.

As a sequence, I forgot my purpose and intention of drawing and all I cared about was getting attention. Every time I wanted to draw something, I would definitely wonder if it was a good drawing to grab impressions from others or what my followers wanted to see in my artworks. Thereby, I was stuck in that vicious cycle of art block and didn’t make art in a whole year. I didn’t feel happy to draw as I used to.

Fortunately, I realized that I was addicted to getting attention and how it had negative impacts on my creativity. Personally, I don’t think Instagram or any other social media platforms is problematic in and of itself. However, it can’t be denied that with their attention-driven business model, they are training us to want attention, to crave it, and to feel stressed when we don't get enough of it. Just like addiction to anything, we will never feel enough even though we have got 100, 1000 or ever 100 000 followers. In contrast, if we don’t reach the follower count as we want, we feel terrible about ourselves.

Instagram gets its users addicted to the powerful feeling of getting attention. But if your creativity is driven by a desire to get attention, you’re never going to be creatively fulfilled.

Having stopped posting artworks on Instagram is a good idea for myself. I stop wasting time on social media to know who liked my post and what they commented. It gives me a more powerful feeling when I pay attention to just one thing, drawing. I don’t let any other factors control and distract my creative process so now I’m happier to draw. I try not to see other creative artists as my competitors. Instead, their gorgeous pieces of art inspires me and I get more motivation to try harder and draw better.

Ultimately, I have found my happiness in doing art and I am grateful for all the support and attention I've received from my followers: their comments, likes, and shares. Even if one day no one looks at my artwork, I'm still happy to draw as I do now, no matter how few people pay attention to me.