Not feeling creative or inspired as you used to be?

Some one called @KB3146 commented on an old video called “How to get your creative inspiration back when you’ve lost it.” ( https://youtu.be/3mgPhcDqREU )

They said:

I’ve been thinking about this ever since – 6 days ago – feeling that I really should reply.

But what could I say that was more than I had already said in the video?

The original video is 7 years old and a lot has changed in that time. It certainly has for me.

I think the main difference for creative people is social media and the expectations that have been instilled in our culture. As a creative person, the customer, the client, the person you are creating for has been forgotten.

Creativity has come to be about pleasing algorithms to make social media companies richer. Never mind the quality – it’s all about eyeballs and watchtime.

To achieve watchtime, you have to work for the algorithm, forget your audience, just learn how to trick them into watching rubbish. This is not a good or long-term recipe for happiness.

Back in 1964 Marshal McLuhan said: “The medium is the message.”

Well, I would now say that the medium has become the client. We now work for the publishers not the audience.

To be a happy creator, you need to learn to please your client/customer/audience, then you will be happy too.

The audience has been reprogrammed, however, so you’ll have to win them back. But I think that honesty and your best work will do that… and make you a happy creator too!