Written by Peter Omalyev and Edited by Luca Bartlomiejczyk

Mental illness is pervasive and extremely hard to pin-down, but social media certainly seems to have an ill effect on it. I am going to try to deconstruct how social media may be destroying our self-worth, especially concerning artists, musicians, and other creatives. 

Social Media (SM from here) exacerbates mental illness while at the same time glorifying consumerism and excess. The result is a culture that paints a picture of normalcy which involves things like drinking every day, needing to be having fun at all times, and an arts marketplace which requires artists to always be “on” and producing all types of “content” non-stop. 

We have all heard of “content”; what is the origin of that? It is the most sterile, uninspiring word I could have thought of, and yet it dictates our entire internet culture.

I do accept and yearn for the fantastic possibilities of connection which are possible through the internet. Many inventions with fantastic potential are ultimately tainted by the unlimited growth mindset of capitalism, and social media is just one of many.

To me, that is the core of the problem. SM is corrupted by the massive scale it wants to achieve. Something about the endless unchecked growth of culture as capital feels extremely cancerous, especially when the creation of capital is the driving force. Even Facebook itself has problems moderating the content on it’s platform, which has had devastating consequences when bad actors have taken advantage.

SM has always been more concerned with advertising than it was with helping people connect with each other, grow, journal, archive, or better themselves. All of those positive things it purports to do are the alluring façade of what SM could be, if only our entire world wasn’t already so deeply entrenched in corporate selling mindset.

Are we as artists all just working for Mark Zuckerberg, who sets the metrics which ultimately define our success in the digital space? He is the one that puts a follower count, which demonstrates public approval, next to your picture. He and his company are the ones profiting from this systemic devaluation of the artist. 

Facebook was first created as a “hotness rating scale” which objectified every person on it, and reduced them to and based their value on only their physical appearance. 

Now that same gross vapidity is our constant reality. Instead of how attractive you are to the rest of your school or whatever community, people are constantly judging art or culture by how commercially viable it is. No artist can break through to wide success without first paying Zuckerberg his toll.

What happened to being totally invested in your art? What happened to allowing your work to represent you, and not your follower count? What happened to an open-minded audience? What happened to making our own judgements, instead of just constantly searching for the most viewed of the day? What happened to connecting with the people who appreciate you, and forgetting the rest?

I am worried about the effects of SM on young and burgeoning artists. In order for them to meet the standards of success we see today, they first need to craft a bubbly television personality, and then invest hours upon hours marketing that image of themselves to the void of the million eyes coming through their screens. Any possible positivity from the audience is drowned out by the nervous and myopic vision of someone seeking the approval of everyone else. Imposter syndrome is made prevalent in the SM space, because it creates comparisons which are often not relevant or useful.

The only real prerequisite to being an artist, of course, is to create art. Though our digital culture is now telling us that in order to be artists we need to be capitalists. Why are we being limited? Why are we limiting ourselves by forcing ourselves to fit into these little boxes?

Artists are now forced to bare their soul to the abyss, which in this case is an ongoing culture-consuming and money-making machine. They are forced to eventually try to transform themselves to fit into the capitalist mold, in an attempt to have any of the imaginary people online take them seriously.

Those little columns of pictures on instagram and elsewhere, which are the small and limited space Mr. Zuckerberg thought was worthy enough of to be an artist’s canvas, limit artistic creation into the smallest of boxes. Sometimes when an artist is trying to find an audience online, none of that artist’s work even exists in real life. Instagram ultimately ends up as an archive of your passion and hard-work in pictures and film, reduced to some programming and unlimited advertising space.

It is absurd to me that anyone who wants to be a potter, musician, painter, or anything else now has the expectation put on them (often by themselves, but also certainly others, as well) to be a videographer, a copywriter, an editor, a political pundit, a fashion model, and on and on and on… 

When I write or create music, it is not because I want to tweet constantly, or involve myself in every single trend happening on these two week cycles of “which song or meme do I need to take advantage of today in order to be heard?” 

No, I create to bring joy to myself, and then hopefully others as well. I don’t need to impress the entire world, I just want to connect with people like myself with the same values.

Damn all expectations; damn fitting into any mold. It is fairly trendy for artists to consider themselves anti-capitalist or socialist, yet Mark Zuckerberg sells ad space on everything. I don’t want to blame artists for participating in a system they didn’t consent to… But is it really necessary that we fold to SM to find the success we crave?

Anyone who has a real desire to be anti-capitalist should consider abandoning SM. I know it is likely terrifying to potentially be left with no way of promoting your art, but I think we have a real opportunity to stand out as a result! When everyone on earth is promoting themselves on SM, isn’t it true that refusing to do so would be unique? As a sort of metaphor, does it make more sense to throw your message in a bottle in the massive ocean which is social media and pray for the best, rather than delivering the note yourself?

It’s a weird feeling to be trying to promote your art, only to realize by doing so you are contributing to the continuation and funding of this miraculous time-suck which has socially isolated all of us.

For me personally, art is joyful, emotive, caring, and it connects and binds people from all different backgrounds. Studies have shown that loneliness may be the number one cause of drug-use and addiction. Is it any surprise that a national opioid epidemic coincided with the rise of Instagram? We are all depressed and struggling because the dopamine hits from SM are as artificial as smoking meth.

As you search for meaning or connection, and you stare into the screen watching those little imaginary sitcoms of other people’s lives… Think about all that excessive dopamine being pumped into your brain. If SM had a disclaimer that it had similar addictive properties of heavy drug use, would we be using it so much?

You know what dopamine isn’t excessive? The dopamine of human connection, or from creating something really great which truthfully represents who you are.

Real art requires taking risks! How much of a risk would it be to create without expectations of approval? To witness your soul flowing out of yourself, and not care or worry whether it’s beauty is widely accepted? It’s always a risk to tell the entire world, “You’re wrong”… but often it is!

Imagine a local DIY arts scene where none of the artists or musicians can be found on social media. Where every art gallery and rock show is so exclusive, it only exists in one single moment of time. Where we drink and play with our friends, and stop reaching for the next rung on our personal social ladder curated by Silicon Valley. Where being “friends” or “following” someone meant you had to actually meet them face-to-face.

Where you have to talk with the bar owner to get a show. Where you could only read this if you picked it up off of a street corner. I want that so badly, and if you do too, I hope you are reading this. 

I want to perform and create for people who are truly special, special to me specifically. Can we please get off this glorified telephone virtual hellscape, where everything blends together into the constant static?

We could have a group text or email chain or something… And actually engage with our peers and help each other grow.

Any arts scene which was able to achieve that would be revolutionary… We could create our own standards, and revel in each other’s sincerity. We could see and create beautiful things, without attaching a price tag or a sponsorship!

New Haven and other cities in Connecticut could achieve this beautifully. Instead of constantly trying to emulate New York City and Boston and being ignored by both, we all could begin to love how close knit this local scene is. In my opinion, the best thing for the Connecticut scene would be for us to appreciate each other more. Instead of sprinting to try and keep up with the culture of the hyper corporate city cultures all around us, we could make a new trail!

Connecticut has its own soul, and that soul is intellectual, natural, humble, and beautiful! We all just need to reconnect with it in order to thrive. Let’s start creating the art which only this community can, and forget about monetary success or “keeping up with the Jones’” who live elsewhere and constantly proselytize themselves onto the rest of the world in order to stay relevant.

Let the rest flounder in their own insecurities, while we discover everything new and exciting that only we can discover. That, I think, is the first step to healing this metaphysical wound which we all feel as we try to create, live, and understand.

But it won’t ever happen without that first leap of faith, without a movement. I want us to be the first, I want us to be the trail-blazers who lead everyone to a better place: Art for the sake of art. Art for the sake of peace. Art for ourselves, and not the digital mob.

I don’t necessarily know how to take that first step. Maybe saying what we are all thinking is fairly close… but everything thereafter takes community. 

Give love and attention to your own community, and you will be giving a gift to yourself. Go out and change things for the better, we all know how, we just need to abandon doubt and trust each other.