Let's All Post The Same! Saturation, Repetition & The Economy of Attention

How Artists Can Navigate the Online World, Without Losing Their Minds

So, I was thinking about where integrity lives these days and it dawned on me, that it cannot afford its own abode. It rents and has to play along with some sort of game. Thus robbing it of its own agency and natural thought processes. In this world, nobody can afford not to have integrity, so how does anybody stand out?

I really don't like being online much. All I see is sellers selling to other sellers. Nobody is really buying anything. We are all learning but where do we go to use what we learn for the betterment of humanity? We don't. We just keep posting.

We live in a world that isn't novel, unique or interesting. Everybody is surviving. The word thrive has been removed from the dictionary and isn't a thing anymore. In fact, creatives have been totally screwed for most of this century.

Spend enough time online and you may begin to notice something strange. The same advice. The same thumbnails. The same fears. The same promises. One person tells you to post more. Another says post less. One insists you need AI. Another insist AI will destroy everything. One claims you much niche down. Another claims you should broaden your appeal. WTF?

After a while, it can feel as though everybody is selling the same thing while standing in front of a slightly different coloured backdrop. The internet is not simply an information environment anymore. It is an attention economy. And attention is obtained through repetition. Through zig zags and mouse acrobatics. The challenge for musicians, writers, painters and students of the arts, is learning to distinguish between information and amplification.

Information vs Amplification

Information teaches. Amplification repeats.

There is nothing inherently wrong with repetition. In fact, repetition is one of the best ways humans learn. The problem occurs when amplification begins masquerading as information. For example, a musician might watch twenty videos explaining how difficult it is to build an audience online. By the twentieth video, they may feel they have acquired twenty pieces of knowledge. However, in reality, they may have acquired one piece of knowledge repeated twenty times. The emotional impact, however, is twenty times larger.

This is how discouragement accumulates. Not through facts. Through repetition. A regular rinse and repeat cycle.

Remember What the Internet Optimises For

The internet does not necessarily reward what is true. It rewards what is clicked. This is a massive distinction.

A title saying: "Keep Practicing. Progress Takes Time."

Is unlikely going to compete with: "Why Most Musicians Fail."

One is measured. The other triggers emotion. Algorithms are not evil. They simply reward engagement. Unfortunately, fear, outrage and anxiety are highly engaging.

As artists, we should remember that engagement is not the same thing as wisdom.

Your Artistic Life Exists Mostly Offline

The most important parts of your artistic development happen away from the screen.

• A pianist becomes a better pianist at the piano.

• A composer becomes a better composer by composing.

• A painter becomes a better painter by painting.

No amount of content consumption can substitute for the actual work. The internet often creates the illusion that observing creativity is equivalent to creating. Er, um, it isn't.

There is a vast difference between watching people discuss art and making art.

One consumes energy. The other generates it.

Curate Your Inputs

Most artists carefully choose their instruments. They should be equally selective about their influences.

Ask yourself:

• Does this person inspire me to work?

• Does this information help me create?

• Do I feel more hopeful or more helpless after consuming it?

• Am I learning something new, or hearing the same message again?

  
  

If a source consistently leaves you discouraged, it may be worth questioning whether it deserves your attention. Not every voice deserves a seat in your studio.

There Has Never Been Less Competition Than You Think

This sounds contradictory. There are more artists than ever. There is also more imitation than ever. Originality remains surprisingly rare. Many creators are chasing trends, algorithms and formulas. Very few are developing a genuine artistic voice.

If you spend ten years developing depth while others spend ten years chasing visibility, your work begins occupying a different category altogether. The goal is not to sound louder. The goal is to sound more like yourself.

The Long View

Most worthwhile artistic lives are built slowly. Not virally.

• The internet encourages us to compare our beginnings to someone else's highlight reel.

• Art asks us to compare today's work to yesterday's work.

The latter is a much healthier comparison. The word latter also looks like latte, so I may make a coffee.

The great artists were rarely obsessed with metrics. They were obsessed with the work itself.

The work was the reward. Recognition, when it arrived, was often a by-product.

So In General Conclusionary Style

If the online world is making you feel as though everybody is doing the same thing and selling the same thing, you may not be imagining it. Many people are.

So good luck kid and best wishes. No, just kidding.

The attention economy rewards repetition. But art rewards depth.

One asks, "How can I be seen?" The other asks, "What do I genuinely have to say?"

The first question may help build an audience. The second builds a life.

And if you are fortunate, patient and persistent, it is often the second that eventually attracts the first.