I was born in 1981. I grew up with books, maybe 13 useless channels of TV, VHS video rentals, and 8-bit video games. Those were enough to get the juices flowing. My brain’s creative processing unit was optimized for very simple inputs. In 1998 I went off to college and had internet in my dorm and thus was the beginning of my downward spiral
I have finally come to realize how destructive the internet, Facebook, and specifically, the phone-based YouTube and Instagram apps have been for me.
The day after our turbulent election, I snapped out of the chaos, stopped checking Facebook, and deleted IG and YT from my phone. It’s been a week. I feel amazing. Within 48 hours of that act, I sat down and worked in the studio probably for the first time in months. No joke. I have basically been avoiding the seriously therapeutic act of musical exploration for it’s own sake for years.
I admitted my addictions and cut them out of my life. My creative drive is coming back when I have nothing to fill the empty gaps of time with!
In summary, my recipe:
– Courageously delete apps and stop using social media
– Listen to “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield and “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron
– If you’re serious about it…try avoiding ej****ation (sorry, TMI, but honestly, this helps A LOT)
Careful guys. Mods will come down hard on this thread if they catch wind of it. That aside, I can totally relate to the majority of the post. Born in 82, so basically the same era, and the UK and US culture is quite similar. I haven’t deleted my socials entirely just yet, but I’ve turned off all notifications since watching The Social Dilemma (recommended) and I have enough willpower to ignore their lure when I need to focus on music. In fact, music is my escape from all that nonsense - I just keep the apps mainly for maintaining my band’s presence on them
Same here. Watching the Social Dilemma has made me very aware of how much I get manipulated, and it has changed the way I interact with youtube (in particular) as a result.
Turning off notifications helps a lot. That takes the power out of the apps basically. I’ve had notifications off for well over a year and even though I at times check a lot of Social media, it’s not to the point where it’s constantly begs for my attention… and that is a big difference imo…
I appreciate this post. Thanks for sharing. We have a finite amount of daily energy, and it’s difficult, yet extremely important to be aware of what we invest ourselves in. Seems easier than ever to get lost these days. Your last suggestion is a good one, but runs the risk of taking focus off your main message. Thanks for the validation and insight.
I don’t think it directly elps based on my understanding of phisiology and pscyhology (and I am getting a masters degree on the latter this year), but hey, anything that helps. At least it serves as a symbolic gesture of being really committed of solving the problem…
I think it helps to see social media as a hobby in and of itself, then ask yourself if you’ve got the time to commit to it, what with all the music making and everything else.
I still use YouTube, but I mostly only watch videos related to my music making.
Avoiding the Youtube synth advertisement channels is definitely a good idea. I tend to sort by upload date nowadays just so I don’t have to see an avalanche of ‘Product - is this the best X?’ videos.
I think the best practice is to simply force yourself to do it. Make it a routine to work on music. Pick a time each day or week where you’ll sit down and make something.
trying to watch only videos of gear I DO have but I’ve basically ran out of videos now haha