Look, it’s a blurry line between being someone who wants to make stuff and share their creativity with the world on one side and being someone who wants to be the main character of the internet on the other.
Blurry, but not invisible.
I personally struggle with my own identity on the modern internet. I make stuff for the joy of making it. I write stories because I feel the very human need to be a storyteller. I draw and make music and build games because I am compelled to use the half of my brain that is steeped in creative urges to do those things.
The tepid pool of what becomes popular for all the wrong reasons, though, is a little sad.
I see reels that are staged or commercial or generated or simply rage bait.
I see posts that reek of corporate pandering or identity grooming or culture shifting.
I see profiles that are bots or resume acts or cons or worse.
It’s all fake.
What is to be done about those? Nothing, maybe, but looking away and being better than that, not stooping to that grade of duplicity, treating people everywhere—your audience and the people around you in real life—with the respect they deserve. Maybe that will help a little.
It’s old fashioned, but here’s the real:
Be genuine. If you are out there making stuff that is fake or even whiffs of influencer-grade performance, just… don’t. Be better than that.