The Thief of Joy: Is Social Media Impacting Your Creativity

Love it or hate it, most people these days have some form of presence on social media platforms. I felt it was time to share my personal view, experiences, and the ways I now use social media in my life. Please keep in mind that these are simply my own thoughts and ramblings, and I’m certainly no expert when it comes to social media.

Over the years, I have actively used various social media platforms, and by 2019 my focus gradually shifted to primarily sharing the photos I took. This change came about because it felt like a wonderful way to express my creativity and connect with others online. However, the more content I uploaded, the more I found myself chasing the numbers—likes, comments, and followers, which became a constant preoccupation. This pursuit really started to take over my mindset and consume a lot of my energy. During any available free time, I would head out with my camera, and my routine quickly became: Shoot, Edit, and Share. As soon as I got home from a photography session, I would immediately begin editing the photos to upload them to social media as quickly as possible. I mainly used Facebook and Instagram for this purpose and often shared my photos across multiple Facebook pages to reach a broader audience.

In 2022, I noticed a significant change happening on social media. Perhaps it was influenced by the Covid lockdowns, but the social media platforms were clearly heading in a completely different direction, especially with the increased presence of AI-generated content and a strong desire to create a different kind of user experience. I began to feel that there had to be a better way to share my photographic work, something more personal and authentic. It wasn’t until 2023 that I made the decision it was time to establish my own website and express my own unique voice in photography. I took on the challenge of designing and building my own website using Squarespace, with the clear goal of creating a dedicated space where people would visit first to view my work, before even seeing my social media accounts. This process has been quite a steep learning curve, as I initially knew nothing about SEO or website maintenance. However, through extensive online training and adding SEO Space functionality to my site, I’ve been able to build a solid online presence. Now, visitors don’t just view one page on my site—they explore multiple pages and many of the same visitors return regularly. I’ve also been successful in building an email subscriber list. In addition, I started writing regular blog posts, and even those blogs from 12 months ago continue to receive consistent views, which is both encouraging and motivating.

By shifting my focus away from social media and concentrating instead on developing my own website, I gradually stopped chasing superficial numbers and engagement metrics on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. The result of this shift was that my photographic work improved significantly since I was creating images for my own satisfaction rather than tailoring them to please the ever-changing social media algorithms. The entire creative process became much more natural and enjoyable. Over the past eight to ten months, Meta has repeatedly adjusted the algorithms on both Facebook and Instagram, causing my news feeds to turn into chaotic streams filled with content from people and pages I neither know nor wish to engage with. Moreover, there is now a noticeable increase in AI-generated content cluttering these platforms. With billions of photos uploaded daily, a troubling trend has emerged where photos are heavily over-processed to an unnatural degree as photographers strive to attract more likes and comments. This often backfires, as such images are frequently accused of being fake or AI-generated, leading to frustration and conflicts within the photography community. A recent example that stands out was an image purportedly showing the Milky Way and Aurora taken at 3 a.m., featuring an improbably vivid blue sky alongside strikingly green grass. The photo was called out as AI-generated, despite the photographer’s defense that a bright full moon was present at the time to justify the lighting. With so much AI-generated content currently flooding social media, it's becoming increasingly difficult for viewers to distinguish real photographs from synthetic ones, and therefore, overly processed photos risk being misidentified as AI creations.

As Marlborough is the largest wine region in New Zealand, the vineyards are truly everywhere you look. So when you take landscape photos in this beautiful area, it’s almost impossible not to have vineyards included somewhere in the frame. Nearly two years ago, I decided to stop sharing photos that featured vineyards on any Marlborough-focused photo sharing pages on Facebook. The reason was the consistent backlash from a small but vocal group of people who would emerge from behind their keyboards to leave hateful and nasty comments about the presence of vineyards, despite the fact that vineyards have been an established and important part of Marlborough’s landscape for over fifty years. Unfortunately, there is definitely a darker, more unpleasant side to social media platforms that seems to have crept in over time, making it challenging to share any content without encountering negativity.

Now, to thoughtfully answer the question I posed in the title of this blog, “The Thief of Joy: Is Social Media Impacting your Creativity” I genuinely believe that, for many people including myself, it often is. Social media, while a powerful tool for connection and exposure, can sometimes drain creative energy and focus. However, will I be leaving social media entirely? At this stage, the answer is no. Social media still holds value as a means for me to share my website content and blog posts with a much broader audience. That said, I have made a conscious decision to significantly reduce my social media usage by removing the social media apps from my phone and intentionally spending far less time scrolling through various platforms, which can be distracting. Moving forward, I plan to dedicate more quality time to being outdoors, fully immersing myself in nature, and creating meaningful, high-quality content to upload directly to my website. While I will still upload the occasional photo or update to social media, my primary focus and preferred platform will now be my personal website. If you want to stay updated on my latest photographic work and blog posts, please feel free to sign up for my newsletter.