The “we” effect
An interesting phenomena I just recently observed is the “we” effect. Humans can adopt community, seemingly out of mere scraps of association. A person works for a company and now all those decisions and those actions and those victories and failures of the company become those of the employee, no matter their level. “We” really smashed our numbers, “we” fell short this year, “we” entered new markets, “we” acquired a new company, etc. when at the end of the day there are specific people on the end of those accomplishments and failures that truly did the work (or didn’t). Whether you know their names or not doesn’t matter, the “we” succeeds, owns the victory, or feels the dejection of a loss.
“We” in the art sense feels a bit harder to adopt. Is it because of this deep connection of art and creation to our self-esteem? People who create art tend to shy away from calling themselves “artists”. A person who enjoys taking photos does not identify themselves as a “photographer”. It seems as though this unspoken rule was implanted into society: you cannot be an artist unless you’ve earned money from your art. Why does money qualify admission into the “we” of the artist realm? Do I, a mere person who enjoys taking photos, have no voice or identity among those others who take photos? I guess I can sign up for the “amateur photographer” category and feel like that describes me adequately, but the “amateur” almost negates the identification; like a photographer but not actually a photographer. Not part of “we”.
I think that social media has done great things for finding your group (finding your “we” lol) and it has also obliterated our self-esteem to the point of feeling like there is no “we” out there for “me”. Following amazing artists, consuming gorgeous, inventive, perfect content (that is ultimately an ad) can bring inspiration but can also sap any creative energy you once had.
“Everything has been done before, now we’re all just copying each other,” -loosely paraphrased from every person who feels like social media has made them the least creative person alive.
Another quote for you, “comparison is the thief of joy,” and we are in the Comparison Age (I would create a better title but I lost my creativity). Time and time again I speak to friends about how I hate social media to which they always reply “me too” and we delve into how we compare ourselves to the point of depression, even though we know people are posting their highlight reels (or posting ads). Now we belong to the “we” of people who lost self-confidence from social media.
To sum up a small portion of a huge and deeply complicated topic, what I’m getting at is that humans love to belong. We love to feel like we are not alone on this planet and our likes, dislikes, feelings, opinions, and general views of things are not foreign. The “we” can be niche, or all encompassing, but if we don’t feel that belonging we feel alone, outcasts. We have to be reminded that we are not outliers in this society and are valuable patches on the beautiful quilt of human individuality, threaded together by a thing that we all share, the want for love, acceptance, and belonging.
I think therapy can help us all. :)
