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Yes, needing to build an audience yourself as a creative means less focus on long-term goals and deep work. It turns years of learning into TikToks.
One thing to note, though, is that a very small perceptage of people are willing to publish (even on social media). 90%+ are just following and watching passively.
Whatever you publish, you are taking action, not just buying things from others by renting them your eyeballs.
I agree -- following is for wankers. Producing, imho, is less wankerish, but I can see your point.
There's another aspect of social media that I like to criticise, and that is how addicted people are to their 'feed.'
Like livestock, returning to the trough for their animal feed, at regular times of the day, like clockwork, people mindlessly feast their minds on theirs. Wanker feed. Cheap (get it now, pay later on attention-credit). Complete with your five mind-food-groups (dopamine, greed, anger, lust and fear).
This made me chuckle. It's true. I'm generally a big fan of the connectivity that the internet has brought into my life, but one downside is that we can "follow" people we admire or who we think are smart.
Following used to be a distasteful thing -- who wanted to be a follower? In the 80s and 90s it was reserved for cultists, communists, and cowards: sheeple. But then came social media, and following lost its unpleasant implications. Now it's just normal to be a follower. No shame. No shame.
Following still has some problems though: it turns the people we follow into leaders whether they want it or now. They feel the pressure of keeping their following happy. Where once a writer might scratch away on some novel which they would reveal in a burst of glory after years of work, they must now also toss glorious golden crumbs to their followers. And as you point out, sometimes this means crumbling the beauty of life just in order to have something to toss. It's not good. It just turns all parties involved -- followers and followed -- into wankers.