Brynn's Adventures

I’ve been so bored of scrolling lately. Something I never thought I would say since I have a crippling phone addiction. It just feels like every post is the same: someone selling their ‘must-haves’, offering their discount code, selling a course, performing a perfectly aesthetic lifestyle. All my feeds are just full of bullshit. Self-proclaimed ‘content creators’ are posting for volume, with no real purpose beyond pursuing the idealized lifestyle as a full-time online persona. But to be honest, what the fuck even is a content creator these days?

I’m no saint. I used to proudly tell people I was a content creator, but now that word feels icky to me. I’ve always been creative, I had a big imagination as a kid and grew up playing in all types art. I fell in love with video creation and editing as a tween and started a YouTube channel. It was my creative outlet. I experimented with tons of genres: skits, clay-mation, makeup tutorials, vlogs, music videos. I enthusiastically chased my curiosity. When short-form video platforms popped up, I hopped on. I started making TikToks and Reels about my interests and eventually got some traction. I gained followers and started getting contacted by brands. Now, at a time in my content creation career that most people would tell me to crank up the intensity, I’m doing the complete opposite, because what is the point anymore? I can’t find it, that’s for sure.

In the early days of YouTube, people uploaded videos for the fun of uploading videos. The joy of the process. Having an audience was an added bonus, but the concept of YouTube as a career hadn’t been conceived. But now this career path is more accessible than ever, and honestly, that’s exactly what’s ruining it. Everyone and their dog is trying to make content creation their full-time gig. To be honest, this volume of content is just clogging everyone’s feeds with meaningless slop (offence intended). It’s interesting that many people complain about the prevalence of ‘AI slop’ yet go home, sit on their couch, and watch basically the same 5 short form videos, over and over again, for hours.

I suppose it’s not entirely the content creator’s fault. The algorithm does not care if you have something worth saying; it just cares that you’re shouting into it. You have to upload consistently, every day if you can. Actually, it’s essential, otherwise we don’t care. Just log on and post; it doesn’t matter if it’s good, just post something! Do you realize how stupid that sounds, actually? Big algorithm doesn’t reward originality or exploration; it rewards repetition, predictability, and compliance.

No longer can you chase your curiosities, take risks, and experiment with topics and formats, not if you want this to be your career. Inch one toe out of line from your niche and big algorithm punishes you. Once a certain style of video you’ve made gains traction: categorized. That’s now your identity online, good luck!

I used to love chasing my curiosity and seeing where it took me, but when I decided to start taking social media seriously, I felt pressure to niche down. That’s what big algorithm wanted me to do. I often shut down creative ideas that didn’t fit into my prescribed online categories because they wouldn’t perform well. If your art doesn’t get recognition, then there’s no point, right? Obviously not, but that’s what it feels like. Creativity is no longer an expression as it becomes measurable by likes, views, and shares. Big algorithm is killing artists. Creativity has turned into a performance and to succeed, your identity must be optimized.

It seems like everyone online these days is just making content to say they are making content. The loss of creativity and uniqueness in pursuit of pleasing the algorithm is causing every video on the internet to look the same. Get ready with me for a night out, day in the life of a full time influencer, my 5 favourite products, what I eat in a day, oh my god. Why are we so obsessed with watching everyone else’s staged and curated lives while we sit on the couch, unhappy with ours? One new buzzword gets unlocked, and now suddenly your whole FYP is full of videos telling you what products to buy so you can live an ‘analog life’. Do you even realize how duplicitous that concept is? Stop letting the algorithm tell you who you are and what you like. Do you even have your own taste anymore? Or do you just eat up whatever the apps feed you?

Modern society is so focused on productivity, getting ahead, and making more money. There is no time for craft, there is no time to enjoy the process. The reward is in quantity and efficiency, the antithesis of basically every creative pursuit, ever. We want more, and we want it now, just like the fast-fashion epidemic. Content, like clothes, is mass-produced, disposable, cheap dopamine hits with no regard for craft. The value of quality and craftsmanship has been lost to speed and volume. Why would I buy one hand-knit sweater when I can have 12 shitty ones for the same price? Why make one thoughtful video, blog post, or photograph when you can make 30 super mediocre meaningless ones scripted by yet another algorithm? More is always better, right? Right?!

So anyways, why do you care? Or, why do I care? I know what you’re thinking: there are hundreds of articles on Substack about how we’re watching instead of living, or performing instead of experiencing, but maybe this can be a little poke. A little poke to think about, am I actually liking what I’m making, or am I just doing it to please the algorithm? Or flip it, do I actually like what I’m watching? Or is the algorithm telling me to like it? What is the purpose of your scroll? What is the purpose of your alleged ‘creation’? Look, I’m jaded. My full-time job is in social media, not for myself as I once dreamed, but nonetheless in the sphere. So I understand the machine, and that’s definitely a key player in this equation. The more I understand the machine that is big algorithm, the faster I watch my dreams of being a full-time creative slip through my fingers and vanish into thin air.

So really, what is a content creator? In my opinion, modern-day internet slop. AI-generated concepts and scripts that are stolen from other people, repeated over and over, creating more ‘content’ without meaning, just for more people to copy and post on their pages. The content creator is someone who creates content just to create content. The content creator is merely a slave to the algorithm. The content creator works for the algorithm, feeding it, keeping its never ending hunger satiated. When the casual poster or thoughtful artist is ready to share their creation, big algorithm is full. Content filled it up, and big algorithm doesn’t like trying new meals.

We need fewer content creators and more artists, writers, filmmakers; weirdos with their own likes, dislikes, quirks, that they discovered through lived experience and not because the algorithm packaged them up in a nice box and told them to like those things and dress that way.

All this to say, I’m taking a break from my ‘social media content creation’, not that anyone asked. I’m not proud of the slop that I’m putting out on my pages to please the algorithm, and I’m not proud of what, or how much, I’m consuming on there either. It feels like a betrayal of who I am as a creative and my values. Sure, making money off of your hobbies can be great, but it’s also not. I don’t care if the algorithm picks this one up or not; it’s just for me, and at least that should be a step in the right direction.