EP24: On Instant Gratification & Social Media - My First End-of-Year Lesson Learned

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In which I discuss the issue of instant gratification for authors using social media and sharing their writing online.

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TRANSCRIPT EXCERPT:

Writing like this is unhealthy - and it slows you down. Instant gratification from social media is nice, but that's really all it is. In fact, the more I learn about social media, the more I realize that all social media platforms need to be approached with discipline and a plan. I've also realized that you can't stick around on some social media platforms forever, depending on the community and culture on those platforms. Sometimes, you simply need to be elsewhere in order to continue growing, and you need to be able to recognize that and plan for it.

What I started to realize was that I didn’t write for myself anymore. I wasn't internally motivated anymore, and all my reward and validation came from external sources rather than what I originally felt, which was that internal drive to keep going and that internal happiness that stemmed from writing something I was proud of. Instead, I wrote and made content for people to instantly enjoy and that was my reward. And that creates a bit of a vicious cycle. Not only did social media start to pull me away from my writing, but it also switched my focus into writing for that specific audience that I had at the time. And while that's nice, it wasn't my original plan, and still isn't my plan right now. That's why this year, I've made a lot of social media changes.

So, that's the first lesson that I learned this year. Just: Be able to write without instant gratification or reward from external sources. You can give yourself your own reward system, like celebrating finishing a chapter or finishing a book, but don't make it so that you need external validation to feel good about your writing. And don't get so immersed in social media that you forget why you started writing in the first place.

Since toning down my social media presence, I've started to get back into writing for myself, to make myself happy with what I write, and it's healthier and easier to write in this way. That doesn't mean my audience isn't in my mind when I write - far from it! It just means that I'm not going to be influenced by or exposed to this vicious cycle of instant gratification anymore, and that I've decided that I refuse to be chained to social media all day, every day. In other words, I've started to value my time and my efforts more than I did before, and that has made it clear to me that I need to prioritize and know pursue my actual goals.

Read the rest of the transcript here.