The Death of Originality

Get off of Instagram.

And TikTok.

Put your phone down.

I said what I said.

I’ll back up a little to explain.

Have you noticed in nightlife and entertainment certain themes and performance styles that pop up regularly? It’s not an accident or a coincidence. Our current culture and industry demand that we spend a certain amount of time on what I now refer to as the marketing apps. (Instagram, Tiktok, etc.) Not only does the algorithm require a certain level of consistency with posting, but it also then requires you to spend time on the app engaging with other accounts so that your content will get boosted and shown to more people.

It’s exhausting.

It has become the digital equivalent of stapling advertisements to a telephone pole.

When you stop and think about it, when you see something repetitively, it sticks in your brain. This is why politicians send out insane amounts of fliers and run incessant advertisements - if they get their name out enough times, when the voter gets to the ballot box, there is a higher chance that the voter will select the name most familiar to them if they haven’t had time to thoroughly research each candidate.

I’ve also noticed that as cities progress and change (which is bound to happen as time goes on), many of them have begun to look the same. New York City is seeing more corporate development than individual small businesses; so is Waikiki in Honolulu. How have both of these places developed more Targets?

This sort of thing happens in nightlife and entertainment as well. Clients looking for entertainment for their event will see something on social media, and request it. Or, an entertainment company will see another company do something and want to provide it too. OR a solo performer will see another performer do something incredible that was successful and want to do it too. (I can get into the nuances of plagiarism or intellectual property infringement in another post, but you get my general point.)

I am, of course, describing how trends happen. Repetition.

It is easy to lean into trends when you’re still figuring out your own artistic voice.

The internet begets jealousy because it’s pitting everyone’s highlight reel against each other. It also creates a feeling of missing out as well as feelings of inadequacy the longer you spend on the app looking at everyone’s highlights. We know this.

Comparison is the thief of joy and prevents you from leaning into what your true calling and creative purposes are on this planet. We know this as well.

The more time we spend consuming other people’s ideas, the more difficult it becomes to hear our own.

Now, I don’t know about most people, but I can’t think of anything worse than being compared to someone else or doing the same thing as someone else. I’ve spent most of my life trying to be unique and distinctly myself.

This is hard when you’re always on the go, working survival jobs and at the end of the day just want to mindlessly scroll while a tv show is playing in the background. (No judgement. We all do it.)

So what can you do to find inspiration, to fulfill your creative purposes when you *have* to spend time on the marketing apps, you’re unwinding by scrolling and now have to decipher between AI and reality?

I try to do at least one or two things each month specifically for creative inspiration. Important Note: inspiration doesn’t always just happen out of nowhere, so you have to consistently strive to put yourself into situations that are unique from your normal stomping grounds.

Seeing shows is a typical one for me but branching out in the style of show is important. If you’re into musicals, try seeing an off-Broadway play or a flamenco performance. Still stay seeing the shows you love, but make sure you mix it up.

Museum exhibits are another one. I’m not generally one for walking around museums but specific exhibits can provide a refreshingly different perspective.

Consider looking at/learning/noticing things like:

Architecture. Mathematics. Geometry. Pottery. Poetry. Raves. Hiking. Nature. Bird watching. Dance classes. Photography. Glass blowing. Calligraphy. Sports games. Improv shows. Graphic Design.

There are endless options to stoke the creative fires.

And most importantly: Read. Read a lot and read often. Poetry books, historical fiction, biographies - all of these can have a way of phrasing things that is different from the normal dialogue you’re used to having in your head or reading on the marketing apps. Don’t forget some of the classics. There is a lot of wisdom and inspiration to be derived from immersing yourself in literature.

On a personal note. Spend some time walking around a bookstore. Pick up something that speaks to you.

I wholeheartedly believe that certain books find us at moments in our lives when we most need them.

This culture of same-ness, doing the same things that worked in other places and for other companies or people is killing individuality. These days, because humanity is more connected than ever before, we have to work harder and pay more attention to what we are consuming so we don’t all merge into the same person. Particularly with the advancement of AI. AI reflects patterns from work that it has been fed rather than a perspective from an original life genuinely lived. Using it puts us at risk of losing our individual selves in our work. It is crucial, now more than ever, that we commit to putting ourselves in environments that can give us inspiration to be different from one another.

So, put your phone down once in a while, quit using AI, step away off the marketing apps. Go experience something that reminds you why you wanted to create in the first place.

From the plume 🦢🪶