{"id":140196,"date":"2019-04-22T04:21:11","date_gmt":"2019-04-22T11:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=140196"},"modified":"2019-04-22T04:55:28","modified_gmt":"2019-04-22T11:55:28","slug":"demetricate-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/22\/demetricate-yourself\/","title":{"rendered":"Demetricate Yourself"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Problem with modern society\u00e2\u20ac\u201d we use numbers (metrics) to measure our self-worth and self-esteem. But what if we demetricated ourselves \u00e2\u20ac\u201d no longer attaching our self-worth to a number, or any numbers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t crowd-source your self-esteeem<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been awakened from an enlightened man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dream\u00e2\u20ac\u201d checking Instagram comments to crowd-source my self-esteem. <\/p>Kanye west<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

An interesting news story \u00e2\u20ac\u201d apparently Instagram is testing demetricating likes<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason why this is significant:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our self-worth and esteem shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be dictated by meaningless likes, swipes, and types we get on our photos, posts, and lives. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This is one of the big impetuses for me to start arsbeta.com<\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u201d to create a platform that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153anti-social media\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by not making photography and art-creation into an empty popularity contest. But instead, to use the power of technology and the internet to empower us as visual artist-photographers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why algorithms are ruining your life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Digital share-cropping <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For the most part, I think modern algorithms (Facebook\/Instagram) are making our lives worse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essentially this is what happens:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We get subtly \u00e2\u20ac\u0153nudged\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by Facebookgram\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153news feed algorithm\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to optimize our lives and online behavior to maximize our like\/follower count. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What gets lots of likes?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
  1. Showing lots of skin (sexy girls\/boys at the beach). <\/li>
  2. Food photos<\/li>
  3. Fancy products and stuff <\/li>
  4. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Exotic travel\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\/activities <\/li>
  5. Minimalist art photos (look good on a small screen). <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    What kind of behavior isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tolerated?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    1. Uploading more than once a day (Instabook\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s algorithm will \u00e2\u20ac\u0153punish\u00e2\u20ac\u009d you by telling you that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re uploading \u00e2\u20ac\u0153too much). <\/li>
    2. Photos that require you to look at more detail. <\/li>
    3. Sharing ideas or images that are contrarian and not \u00e2\u20ac\u0153popular\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Is social media empowering you, or disempowering you?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
      \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      I know when I used to have Instagram, I fell into this sucker trap:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      I would always bench-mark (anchor) my progress as a photographer based on how many likes I got on a photo. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

      For example, if I uploaded a photo that got 2,000 likes but my next photo got \u00e2\u20ac\u0153only\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 800 likes, I would feel depressed! Why is this? Because I got suckered (by the Facebookgram algorithm) into thinking that my progress was quantified by the amount of likes I got on my photo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Essentially you get stuck into this treadmill:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Every new photo you upload must get more likes than the prior photo. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

      What are the alternatives?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      A simple idea:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Opt out of having your emotions and behavior modified\/tweaked in very sneaky ways, by choosing to NOT upload your photos\/artwork to Instagram\/Facebook. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

      Instead, spend time to shoot and make photos for yourself, and ask yourself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Do I like my own photos? If I never uploaded photos on social media ever again, would I still make photos?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      ARS is the answer. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Another option \u00e2\u20ac\u201d upload your photos to arsbeta.com<\/a> if your desire is to get real and honest feedback\/constructive critique on your photos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      ARS isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t perfect\u00e2\u20ac\u201d but we are rapidly iterating new versions, and new features to empower us photographers\/visual artists to the maximum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"
      Arsbeta Version 3: Now with ARS Coin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      How to demetricate yourself <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
      \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      Ideas: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1. Delete Instagram, and start posting photos to your own blog\/website instead (WordPress.org). <\/li>
      2. Stop weighing yourself (don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t use the scale be the determinant of your physical beauty). <\/li>
      3. Spend some time meditating to yourself, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How do I measure myself, and should I even measure myself?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        I believe we can grow and progress in life without metricating ourselves. We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need numbers to evaluate our self-esteem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Instead, let us follow our gut\u00e2\u20ac\u201d and look ourselves in the mirror and ask ourselves:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Am I proud of myself, and excited the direction I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

        Be brave!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        ERIC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Problem with modern society\u00e2\u20ac\u201d we use numbers (metrics) to measure our self-worth and self-esteem. But what if we demetricated ourselves \u00e2\u20ac\u201d no longer attaching our self-worth to a number, or any numbers?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140112,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/68428109-F110-4F90-A56F-DF27DE88A2CF.jpeg?fit=1280%2C960&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140196"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140213,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140196\/revisions\/140213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}