The Collapse of Self-Worth in the Digital Age

Lots of good stuff in this piece from Thea Lim.

First: remember when we all had our own analog algorithms for things, like finding the best route home?

not the [route] that optimizes cost per minute but the one that offers time enough to hear an album from start to finish.

I remember.

Also loved this description of releasing something into the world. She wanted to know how her book was selling, but didn’t feel like she could ask her publisher. Why?

I had trained in the religion of art, and to pay mind to the reception of my work was to be a non-believer. During my fine arts degree, we heard again and again that the only gauge for art is your own measure, and when I started teaching writing, I’d preach the same thing. Ignore whatever publications or promotions friends gain; you’re on your own journey. It’s a purportedly anti-capitalist idea, but it repackages the artist’s concern for economic security as petty ego.

But eventually she began to hear how her work was being received:

And when the reception started to roll in, I’d hear good news, but gratitude lasted moments before I wanted more. A starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, but I wasn’t in “Picks of the Week.” A mention from Entertainment Weekly, but last on a click-through list. Nothing was enough.

An external scale is never enough.

And damn if this isn’t spot on:

if there’s an off-duty pursuit you love—giving tarot readings, polishing beach rocks—it’s a great compliment to say: “You should do that for money.” Join the passion economy, give the market final say on the value of your delights.

And the things is, creator or consumer, we’re all caught in the platform networks.

Acts of pure leisure—photographing a sidewalk cat with a camera app or watching a video on how to make a curry—are transmuted into data to grade how well the app or the creators’ deliverables are delivering. If we’re not being tallied, we affect the tally of others. We are all data workers.