The grip on my pen starts to loosen up as I place a final period next to “reels” alongside a growing list of social media platforms. Finding itself placed right below the “Second YouTube Channel” and “Podcast”, it’s hard to say that Meta’s TikTok-clone is going to be a high priority in the new year.

This next year is going to be my first full year as a full-time creator. That’s a scary thought. A year ago I was sitting at home, about to prepare for my second semester at college - it’s crazy how fast things change. Maybe it’s in planning that I hope to place a firm grip on such an uncertain future.

To prepare for the journey ahead I spent a lot of time at my grandparents house planning out the new year - trying to do my best as a “content-creator” and place priority on the platforms or type of videos I want to create. Yes, it does seem a bit soul-sucking, but there’s not much else to do out here in Maryland (more a blessing than a curse).

Over the past few months I’ve come to have an irrational hatred for Instagram Reels. There’s something about it that just pushes my buttons in every wrong way. Now, I’m sure this is as ice-cold of a take as it gets, but it’s almost as if the cigarettes-to-social-media analogy that was echoes as we grew up is finally starting to materialize.

For most of us we grew up hearing about this “social media is the new cigarettes” messaging and rolled our eyes - TikTok hadn’t breached the surface yet, YouTube was still mostly made up of home videos, and the few hours I spent playing Pokemon Diamond were never going to ruin my life. But it’s appeared that in the fall of 2023 - we finally hit the apex, and it’s freaking me out a bit.

The greatest gift we have in our 20s is to be naturally tapped deep into culture, feeling shifts underneath our feet before any wall street analyst has the chance to report on it. This was the same feeling that I felt when we first were creating the YouTube New Wave movement, often times the best cultural ideas are those than can be explained easily and effortlessly understood - and I think it’s pretty fair to say that most people absolutely hate Instagram Reels. Honestly, some of that hatred bleeds over into myself and my own efforts at creating a following on the platform. Adding to the ever-growing static field that envelopes our subconscious. None of this more apparent as I scroll through hundreds of “year in review” posts, realizing that it all feels more like the peak of the dot-com bubble than cultural renaissance.

Nothing makes me want to get out of the content industry as much as this.

The pessimistic part of my brain echoes the sentiment that no matter how pretentious and “meaningful” what I create seems, it’s still adding to this ever-growing problem, this exponential sludge that is on a mission to suffocate our entire generation. The optimistic side, yelling to be part of the change, to wipe the slate clean, and allow air to circulate in the system. Maybe the best way to do that is to not post at all.

When everything starts to feel the same, you need to block out the world and look inwards. Create with only the collage of hues that you’ve spent your life mixing together.