Let Go or Be Dragged, I Suppose

on riding the wave of the Tik Tok ban, rather than drowning under it

Let’s start with the basics: I HOPE Tik Tok doesn’t get banned. It is annoying, and I enjoy the form of the community there. There’s a reason I posted this image of going down with the ship the other day there. I am in the midst of pivoting against my will.

Imagine him singing, “and you say I abandoned the ship, BUT I WAS GOING DOWN WITH IT.”

I’m trying to approach this in a different way, at the same time that I hold my frustration and anxiety.

I don’t really make money from Tik Tok. Part of that is the form I post in, the stances I take, and what brands want to be able to do with sponsored posts. As a psychiatry resident interested in ethics in my career, I also feel REALLY WEIRD taking any sponsorship offers unless I can be super sure they are not against my values (this is sort of impossible). The reason I bring this up is to say that maintaining Tik Tok as somewhere I pour hours into has been becoming less sustainable for me. As I’ve grown on there, I’ve wanted the ability to put more time and creativity into it, but that takes time (obviously). This forced pivot is moving me here, where there is a real option to write and be paid a little for my time, without having to breach my ethics or my sense of authenticity with you, my readers as the only way to be paid for the time I spend creating this.

If you’re reading this, and you have a platform or don’t, if the ban impacts you positively (yay! Attention span returns!) or negatively (you depend on it for income), I wonder what it might mean to pause before the ban comes and ask how you’d like to live in this change.

Maybe a new app will emerge. Maybe you’ll begin posting more somewhere else like me, or realize people will want a little entertainment time as they’re forced off the app, and you want to build a small little home for them to visit on the internet. As I’ve written about now for many years, I want to invite us into slowing down into this change, and being a bit more curious and hopeful about what can happen here.

Over the last couple weeks, it has surprised me how much I enjoy writing here, on substack. While I love sharing a vibey photo here and there, writing is my true love, and this lets me focus on that for longer spans. It still feels like I’m sending you all a long text, and my writing is adapting to that. It still feels like short, imperfect writing is okay here, and that was the thing I was most afraid to lose.

I don’t know what rhythm I’ll settle into on here in the long run, nor what will become paid posts vs free. I believe in the model of work on here of giving a lot of free writing and creating community, and I believe in paying writers.

Thanks for your patience, and your attention, as we all pivot together. Let us know in the comments what you hope the pivot might mean for you.

xoxo,

Margaret of Bad Art Every Day