Everybody Hates Me and Nobody Cares
Maintaining Creative Energy in the Age of Algorithms
Dear friends,
My “Inner Demons” Kickstarter is struggling to gain traction.
I’m not looking for sympathy support, please don’t back me unless you like the art. But handling rejection is part of being a creative person and creativity is what I write about. So that’s today’s topic and maybe it will help you on your creative journey to hear how I deal with it.
The scariest part about being an artist is the fear that when you unveil your new creation, everybody will hate it. We get caught up imagining the terrible “bad review” outcome and we don’t realize there is a more likely and perhaps worse one. What if you create your art and nobody cares?
The “everybody will hate it” fear is unlikely but even so, it would have its advantages. The louder a hater yells, the further they spread your message. It’s like free marketing if you can get over the sting. Hatred means your art is affecting people. I once had the honor of being in a gallery and witnessing someone looking at my art, shaking their head, and stomping off in disgust. It’s one of my proudest moments because I reached someone. Hate is so much better than the blank stares most gallery walls evoke. No, the “everybody will hate it” fear isn’t what we should worry about.
The “nobody cares” fear is the tricky one. So let’s unwind it.
How do you know that nobody cares? This may be what it feels like, but how would you validate this assumption? You probably don’t have physical proof. After all, if somebody doesn’t care, they aren’t going to put effort into telling you. That would require them to care.
But what about the data? Likes, subscribers, shares, views… the truth is right there, you say. Just look at the unfunded Kickstarter page. What else could it be other than public undeniable proof that I am a failure?
This is where being an artist in 2024 is different than the past.
Today, every view and click gets measured. When things can be measured they can be gamed. As a result, our feeds are “won” by the highest bidders and the click-baiters.
How can your little black and white collage compete when it is sandwiched between the sexiest imagery humans have ever seen? You are literally competing with AI that has absorbed the entire visual output of humanity and can spit out new eye candy on demand to anybody who can spell. This tidal wave has just begun and the flood continues to push average human heads under water. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
One person’s tiny, human, analog output is invisible, lost in the feeds that are designed to squeeze out the things that don’t hold eyeballs. People can’t care about what they can’t see. But it’s hard not to take it personally.
A friend told me he hadn’t seen me on social media lately. The assumption was that I hadn’t been active. But nothing had changed on my end. A slow steady output is not enough in 2024. Individuals are standing still while the algorithm-pleasers accelerate, clogging the feeds and exhausting your audience. Exhaustion. That’s the feeling. It’s not that people don’t care. By the time they see your art, if they see it at all, you are lucky if they have the energy to even tap that little heart icon, let alone click on a link.
But blaming the algorithm doesn’t really help, does it? The real question is…
Why should someone care about you?
It’s quite presumptuous to think that you are entitled to have other people care about your work. It would be better to start with…
Nobody needs your art.
Everyone has their own problems and attention is a dwindling resource. Everyone is battling to carve out a peaceful place where they can protect themselves from the onslaught of things demanding attention. When we doom scroll we aren’t looking for things that consume our energy or pull money out of our pocket. No, we scroll our feeds protectively, on alert for scams, hoping to remain passive and untouched. Because the reason we are scrolling in the first place is we are escaping the physical world, avoiding the difficult tasks on our to-do list.
If your post is lucky enough to break through the noise—not just to hold the eyeballs for a split second—but to really connect with someone enough that they want to care about whatever delicate vessel you are offering up for scrutiny, you’ve achieved something rare. It is more than the common anonymous dopamine exchange of a like button. It’s human connection. And I believe it can still happen, even in the discouraging social media landscape.
So if you find yourself feeling like “nobody cares,” here’s my advice…
First, your work needs to be sustained by the dopamine that comes from the creative process itself, not the dopamine that may (or may not) occur when it appears (or doesn’t appear) in other people’s feeds. If your artistic output depends on external validation to fuel its ongoing creation, you are going to give up when the sound of crickets inevitably hits.
Second, you don’t need permission to create. If you wait for an invitation to make something, it will never come. You are creating for yourself first because there are things inside you that need to come out. If you deny your creations because there isn’t an audience or because it won’t be blessed by the algorithms, you are depriving yourself, not others. Similarly, if you alter your vision to satisfy the appetite of others you will forever be a slave to fashion and your personal vision will starve to death. You can’t let your worth be tied to other people’s acknowledgement of your effort.
Finally, if someone actually “gives a care” about your work, this is a precious gift. There’s no guarantee it will happen. Should it bless you, be thankful and humble. By the way, I am so grateful that you let my messages occasionally hit your inbox. Thank you.
If you couldn’t tell, this is as much a pep talk for myself as it is for you. It’s easier to write than it is to practice. Hang in there. And stay creative.
Your friend,
Ade
