VOICES: SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE ILLUSION OF WORK BY ANGELICA GARCIA

At this moment, all I’m thinking about is:

What do we prioritize? What are we aspiring towards?

I don’t think it’s a secret that there is a particular Instagram fatigue going on lately. It’s tricky. How do you differentiate between performance and genuine care? Since the pandemic began, my internet has been running slower because of how many people are logging on to cyber-participate in the world they physically can’t explore. I also don’t think it’s a secret that people show their “best selves” online. So what does that look like at this moment— showing how much you care?

Over the past few weeks it’s been strange to see everyone, especially non-black people, chime in about their personal experience regarding the Black Lives Matter / Black Liberation Movement. Celebrities, companies, brands, people that otherwise normally post pictures of food or their pets. Some of the things I was seeing online honestly made me think “What the fuck is going on?” Visibility is a good thing, right? So why was there this feeling of frustration?

To better understand, I started to think about why a lot of people post on social media to begin with. Earlier this week, I was speaking with my roommate (and fellow musician) Calvin Presents about how there is this insane amount of pressure to create “content” within our generation. Taking a break from social app activity, especially if you’re using social media for any work related to a project or a career, sometimes feels like a risk. As though the endless feed of content means people might forget you or why they followed you in the first place. The strange breed of insecurity this manifests can make one feel pressure to regularly draw people in. So my question is: if we’re here drawing people in, does that mean our posts are like advertisements for who we are? Who we aspire to be? Are we functioning like mini-companies? Drawing this connection between social media and capitalism revealed the source of my personal frustration. While I realize we all use social media differently, I caught myself wondering who is sharing for “engagement”? Who is “decorating” their storefront? And who genuinely cares about the community and the state of the world?

Almost all of my friends and I have joked at some point about the concepts of online persona, internet bravery, and aesthetic, but this particular conversation, at this time, is much different. Protests in Richmond have been happening for 30+ days now. Now, more than ever, I am thinking about who is holding a microphone and why.

As I scroll through the people’s newspaper of social media, I might not be “cancelling” or unfollowing every questionable perspective I take in, but I find my mind is now flooded with mental notes. Is this a form of real work? Does this person seem capable of having a deeper conversation? Captions and vibes aside, what is the utilitarian purpose of this post? These questions are especially deafening when I see the feeds of brands, businesses, and non-black people.

This wide spectrum of acknowledgment of the times (or lack thereof) on people’s feeds has very clearly shown me how truly dangerous the concept of a “social media persona” can really be. At best some posts are unhelpful, at worst they further feed this beast of filtered reality. While visibility is important, I can’t help but feel like any ounce of falsehood is a distraction from the Black Lives Matter/ Black Liberation Movement. I’d argue that aesthetic can be harmful because it can perpetuate the illusion of work.

ANYWAY, I hope everyone is doing okay. Follow community organizers like @chelseahiggswise, @realwizkaliaaa, @campaign_mama, @vmfa_reform. Keep holding Institutions like Richmond Police Department & VMFA accountable for their participation in systematic racism. Keep defending and investing in ALL Black lives. Dismantling white supremacy is daily work.

Angelica Garcia is an East Los Angeles born, Richmond-based, musician on Spacebomb Records. Please check out her new album Cha Cha Palace.