The creative tools we all have at our disposal is mindblowing. When I was younger I used to draw. I even had fantasies of becoming some kind of artist, making cartoons or something. I remember a point in my life where blank paper was hard to come by. Now, I have a computer with Photoshop and two reams of printer paper all within 5 feet of me. I couldn’t tell you the last time I drew something.
I also had delusions of being a rock star. I got a pawn shop guitar and a tiny amp and tried to figure out how to play. I had no internet, no teachers, no books, nothing. But I spent hours plinking around, putting in the work that would surely lead to superstardom. Now I have a nice guitar, nice amp, and can even plug a guitar straight into my computer to record as much music as I want. I could tell you the last time I tuned up ol Cherry Cola (my beloved Flying V) and it was nearly a year ago.
If my younger self could see me now he would slap me in the mouth. And I would deserve it. I have all the tools I need to create, and yet I nearly always choose to consume. I stream on Twitch three times a week, which is really fun and definitely helps scratch the creative itch, but it seems…fleeting? To me it’s very entertaining and interesting in the moment, but will anyone want to watch an old stream 5 years from now? I kind of doubt it. It’s more of an in-the-moment type gimmick.
Also, here I am with a website that I pay money for. This is the first thing I’ve added to it since October of last year. I often feel like I’m squandering so many opportunities and privileges my younger self could barely dream of. So what do I do with that? Feel bad? That doesn’t seem to be very helpful. Issac Newton said something like, a thing in motion stays in motion until something stops it. Like gravity. Or a wall. And something at rest stays at rest until something makes it move. When you become an old man, nobody makes you move. So you tend to just…sit there. Life is constantly asking of us, it’s hard to give extra to make stuff. At least for me.
So this isn’t the normal type of stuff I like to do. I like to keep things as silly as possible. But sometimes I want to just shout what I’m really feeling into the ether. This is me doing that. The Rules of Social Media change often, but whichever rule is in effect is absolute. You should post X amount of times. Include these certain words, don’t use these certain words. Use a picture. Don’t use a picture, use a gif. Don’t use a gif, use a video. Catch attention in the first 2 seconds. But I’ve noticed none of the rules ever say to make anything good. Just make it good for an algorithm, and make it as broad as possible. So what are we doing? What’s the goal?
When I had no tools, I made what I could. Now that I can make anything, I make hardly nothing. I want to change that. But it seems so overwhelming. Even if you do make something you believe to be good, it’s nigh impossible to get people to see it if it isn’t something they’ve already seen and liked according to the algorithm.
So we end up in a feedback loop. When a child draws, they don’t do it to post, they just do because they can. I’m trying hard to get back to that.
We have all the tools.
What do we do with them?