Over the past several decades, social media has grown and evolved in ways that were unprecedented. Every day it continues to change the way we interact with people, information, and the world. There is less "face to face" conversation, less tangible artwork produced, less hand-written letters, and less time spent out in the world daydreaming and imagining. The advancements in the social media world--Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, etc.--create a culture that is so reliant upon others that there is really no opportunity to come up with anything original. There are millions of photos posted everyday through these sites about fashion, food, interior design, art, science, etc. Everything that we could possibly need is already online.
The key is to disengage with the social media world. Trust your own instincts. Trust in your own creative abilities. While I do believe that social media diminishes creativity in so many ways, it truly has the ability to enhance it if used properly. Social media has redefined the idea of COLLABORATION immensely.
Collaboration (n.) to work with another person or group in order to achieve or do something
People can collaborate from anywhere in the world thanks to social media. Facetime even allows people to chat face to face to create something even more authentic. Collaboration often leads to greater creativity and originality than a single idea. However, there is a fine line between copying and collaborating as I mentioned in last week's post. Social media makes copying very easy and incredibly tempting for some people. It is often hard to get caught.
As social media continues to grow, it will be interesting to continue to watch originality evolve.
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This is a huge difficulty for me personally. I find myself comparing my work with other more influential people on social media. I have found it so much more constructive to be with people in person to receive feedback and further your work. It becomes so easy to fall into copying other peoples ideas. It is certainly true, however, that what it can do for collaboration is incredible. I have found services such as Slack and Wake to be extremely effective for collaboration without all of the distraction of mainstream social media.
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