Everyone says when you’re on social media in some form or another that being consistent is key. To keep going with your content on a daily basis. But what happens when you need to be inspired to create the content and your muse is…inconsistent?
In the online world, it is key to continuously post content. Endless amounts of content to feed the algorithm and feed your audience with whatever the content you specialise in, is. I know because I have friends who are content creators and their lives revolve around making sure they have content consistently streaming out of their platforms. And I get it. I understand it because there is coding that is deciding whether or not you get seen. And being seen is crucial to the numbers that trigger payments. It’s endless.
Note – I didn’t know where I was going with this just that I felt guided to write the above. Then it all took a turn to the more interesting…I didn’t set out with an intention to write anything particularly, so that’s why in a way it’s a story of two halves!
It’s like the news programmes. Before 24 hour news channels, we had news programmes at regular intervals during the day. If the news was important enough, our regular television viewing was interrupted (that was the actual wording when it happened) to make whatever announcement needed making. I remember when Elvis died, I was sitting in my grandparents’ lounge with a bag of frozen peas on my head so I didn’t scratch my chickenpox ravaged scalp and the programme I was watching was interrupted to announce it. I wasn’t really sure who Elvis was, but he was clearly important enough to butt in on the regular TV. I remember when John Lennon was shot, my headteacher burst into the classroom to breathlessly tell the teacher what had happened. I’m not sure how she found out because this was way before mobile phones and we had no TV in the school. But that was how information was relayed then. The only constant content creation that was required were entertainment programmes on the (when I was really small) three television channels. I remember when Channel 4 started up, and even Channel 5 though I’ve taken less notice of that because it came about at the same time (or maybe even later) as satellite television. But the channels were never 24 hours, they came to an end with the National Anthem for the day and that was it.
Now, people expect constant content feed. News stories that would never have been reported on in the past are now headline news. We chew the cud over things endlessly – who needs two hours of chat before a sporting match? We sensationalise everything now in order to fill empty hours on television, things that really do not need to be sensationalised. We are just fixated by content. Whether it’s on our mobile phones, our PCs, laptops or iPads, our television screens…whatever. We seem to need to be constantly bombarded.
It is decidedly bad for us as well. There is research that links excessive television viewing to structural brain changes and cognitive decline. Studies have revealed that watching four hours or more of television per day is associated with reduced grey matter volume, poor verbal memory, and a higher risk of developing dementia and depression in later life. Yet we are producing content for 24 hour channel provision. Extensive neuroscience and psychiatric research also shows that constant, algorithm-driven content consumption alters brain structure and function. It primarily impacts attention spans, triggers dopamine-driven reward loops, and can degrade impulse control over time. But we cannot leave social media alone.
At the same time, the things that are good for the brain such as reading books are reducing at an alarming rate. Yet, extensive research shows that reading physically rewires the brain in a positive way. By forcing different sensory and language centres to work together, reading increases white matter connectivity, improves cognitive performance, and can even lower your risk of dementia in later life. So, the opposite of sitting in front of a screen basically. Other activities that could be undertaken instead of staring at a screen such as walking or exercising generally, interacting with people, meditating or just being present in the moment are all proven to improve mental health exponentially. Is it difficult to work out why we have a mental health crisis? A loneliness epidemic? Yet we continue to not only consume endless content, many of us continue to create it.
The irony of all this is not lost on me. Here I am sitting in front of a screen creating content. I struggle, however, to be consistent with my content creation because I need the muse. I can’t just churn it out ad nauseum, I need to be inspired to write something. I am not too good on social media for the same reason. So my follower numbers suffer and I make no money from any of it but I can’t change how I operate. I don’t really want to in all honesty, I find it quite draining to constantly churn out blogs for the sake of it to try and increase my statistics. And I don’t want to be a part of a system that helps proliferate societal problems, frankly.
We are nearly at the end of May as I write this. I wonder what would happen to my life if I went social media dark for the month of June? Maybe even July too. The whole summer. If I devoted more time to reading, to being present, to doing all the things that are good for my brain rather than the things that aren’t. If I stayed away from the constant news cycle.
I guess there is only one way to find out…and that is to cut myself off from social media and news media for a month minimum. All of June at least. I will let you know how it goes!
Louisa Simpson 