Me and Social Media

I have been a full-time professional artist for a decade now. I have used social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X) and this website hosted by WordPress to show my work for quite a bit longer than that.

I have never used TikTok. I gave up on Twitter/X no long after Musk bought it. It was never particularly good for the still image. Instagram used to be very good for photographers and artists. A couple of years ago I would regularly get over 200 hundred “likes” on a post on instagram sometimes over 500. Once or twice over a post even got over a thousand likes, but no more. Now I am lucky to get 50. I have noticed that this has happened to a lot of other artists’ accounts too. This has been sapping my confidence and damaging my creativity. “What’s the point if no one sees it. No one will buy it if they dont see it”

My work has not deteriotated in quality. In many ways I feel that it has improved but you’d never think that from the metrics. I appreciate that as Instagram decided to chase the Tiktok market by introducing Reels and Stories that I have resisted that change. I am not a film maker and I dont want to be one.

I appreciate the beauty of a still image and silence. I never have the sound on if I can help it. Strangely, I am okay with “Sponsored Content” as I dont pay to be on the site and I know they have to make their money some how. What I do have a problem is that when I log on these days my senses are assaulted by all singing and dancing stuff I never asked to see, accounts I never signed up for. The suggested content is overwelming. The infinite feed is insane. “Discover” is rarely of interest so I dont bother with it. The algorithgm has bland dull taste.

Lately, I have felt sick logging on and sicker logging off. I used to find artists I liked but now I feel exhausted and used.

All this stuff has been deliberately designed to be addictive. A court case in California earlier this year upheld the view that Meta and YouTube design addictive products that harmed young people. I haven’t noticed the platforms becoming less addictive, if anything they seem to be getting worse. I will go on my phone to answer comments and queries and find I have got distracted looking at videos of sick or disabled cats in countries many of miles away. It makes me feel stressed. On the days when I dont log, I feel a lot better.

Last month, the European Commission found Meta in breach of the Digital Services Act for the addictive design of Instagram and Facebook. The investigation focuses on features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and the platforms’ highly personalised recommender systems. Earlier this year the EU told Tiktok to change its addictive design or face a massive fine. Sadly, the UK is no longer in the EU.

I can’t wait for Meta et al to change their addictive designs so that my head no longer feel fried after I have been on their sites for a silly amount of time. So, I have decided to turn off comments and likes on my Instagram account and the “Emma Cownie landscape Artist” Facebook account that is linked to it. I will continue with comments and likes on my other Facebook account for a while longer so I can compare results.

I hope it will save my sanity. It’s just as much work to turn off the comments and like but I feel better having wrested a modicum of control back from the Tech giants.

I am off to wrap some paintings and read a sewing book.

If you want to contact me you can still DM me on these sites or email me at emmafcownie@gmail.com