Digital and Social Media Adaptation

https://orangeode.tumblr.com/

If students can catch the creative bug, they will be caught between an immediate, intuitive desire to plunge in and begin working—don’t lose the vision! don’t forget any of those good ideas! this is exciting!—and the fear that such immediate action, or in fact any creative actions, will be terminated, discouraged, or hedged by failure or judgement. This is, upon close examination (or any sort of conscious examination, for that matter), a terrifying place to be. Creativity is so tremulously, inherently vulnerable. Expression of self via creativity cannot really be avoided or disguised (if it can be “avoided,” then maybe it is not creativity at all), and perhaps this is heightened by the online avatar that roleplays for the self.

The internet may appear to be a separation, and therefore a safety net through which creativity is more fluently and fluidly exercised, but in reality the internet has far too much power, potential, and influence to really abolish the fear of vulnerability in any significant way (of course, people hide online all the time—I would just argue that hiding to perpetrate bullying, hateful behavior is in no real or integrous way creative). So while online presences and functions extend the sharing of creative work by a somewhat unimaginable margin, that same capability heightens the stakes to such an extent that the presences and functions are, in some cases, paralytic. There is obviously the work around of using private accounts, etc., but you cannot just wash away to public nature and feeling of the internet. Even though my project, a tumblr blog, is unlikely to be found or popularized, there was a definite sense of unease as I began to veer into this corner of the internet (a place where I’ve never been), especially with this particular assignment, which has created the most thoughtful, purposeful, arduous interaction with social media I’ve ever had.

Following this is the knowledge that most social media is engineered for excellent, seamless user experience, devoid of hard work or critical thinking. For me, that pricks my pride a little bit because of how much time I spent slaving over the posts on this blog. But isn’t creative work best when appearing effortless? I don’t know. That sounds very toxically old-fashioned, but then a painting is at its best when it’s a finished product (hopefully). Should students feel relieved that social media can/will/does hide all traces of deliberate effort? In terms of artistic accomplishment, is it better that the final product is free of digital eraser marks and scribbled out lines? Additionally (I know this has already been addressed in class, but I think I feel it much more now that I’ve been working on this project for a few hours), how on earth are we supposed to encourage meaningful interaction with any media, but particularly social media when it is so ingeniously designed to keep us from and sort of deliberate, conscientious acts?

Ah I’ve gone off. But I also learned a lot about the respective websites/apps that I used (tumblr, Canva, iMovie) and I came to realize that my students will be able to figure out just about any site there is. Because if I can, they will be pros. At least I don’t have to worry about that.