creativity and social media

There is something so universal about creativity, about process, about mastering something.

A few months ago I watched Hans Zimmer’s Masterclass about film scoring, which admittedly has absolutely nothing to do with what I do for a living. But I’m a pretty curious person and for some reason I’m fascinated by movie-making, a film score being such a big part of the movie. Plus I often listen to scores when I’m working — there is just something about being in the world of the movie, with the sounds and the atmosphere, that helps me focus (I have favorite scores for different moods).

Anyway, I’m watching the masterclass and it’s just fascinating to hear him talk about his process and his approach. This is always something I’m on the lookout for in movies or TV shows, and now even more with social media: how do people work? What is their routine like? How do they organise their life, their work? What is their process like?

Social media has been criticized for setting unrealistic expectations, but it also allows you to discover about all sorts of people, working in different industries and coming from different backgrounds. People that, without social media, you probably would never have known about: how would I have discovered a 5th-generation female rancher taking about makeup on TikTok? Social media is a highlight reel, you never have the full picture, so the goal shouldn’t be to replicate exactly what you see, but what if we approached it with curiosity and chose to use it as a tool, that might even be beneficial for self-development? I do try to be mindful in the way I use it and to avoid scrolling endlessly — even though it still happens sometimes, but lately I’ve chosen to see it as an asset, a way to document what I do, for inspiration, for motivation. Nothing may come of it, but no matter what, the process is still useful to me.

It all depends on how you see it, and you never know what it might lead to.