Creativity is NOT Dying. Yet.

How the internet is becoming more niche every day, and why we must stop it.

November 26, 2023

My YouTube recommendations got confused lately.

I didn’t have a special interest recently, so the algorithm tried to serve me the weirdest content at some point. In the end, it landed on short animated films from France.

Weirdly, it worked. Here is why:

1. The internet feels like the same thing repacked time and time again

The internet runs on algorithms.

SEO-driven articles, trending TikTok edits, MrBeast videos… All these contents have the same thing in common.

They are repacking already well-known formulas to please the algorithms and our monkey brains:

  • The articles are built on the same template, so Google indexes them on the front page.

  • The TikTok edits perform well because when viewers recognize the audio in multiple videos, they are more likely to watch them.

  • MrBeast uses the same thumbnail template, editing style, and video topics every time because people come back to it.

If you react well to a content template, the algorithm will serve it to you again and again.

However, this makes all internet content feel like a still image.

2. From real-life connections to niche interests

At the same time, most people don’t use social media to connect with friends and family anymore.

We follow strangers who share our niche interests. Fantasy books, F1 drivers, Vegan recipes… Anything and everything can be a niche today.

We even name our little pieces of internet and create aesthetics out of them:

  • Tech Girl

  • Dark academia

  • Cottage Core

Being part of a bigger group is one of our oldest instincts as humans. Nobody wants to feel alone or unappreciated.

However, my fear is:

  1. If algorithms on platforms like TikTok and YouTube are designed to keep our attention, what does that say about the content we consume? 👉

  2. As time passes, our internet bubbles are becoming increasingly smaller and more specialized. 👉

  3. Most blockbuster movies are reboots or retellings of already existing stories. 👉

  4. Disney and Pixar, the most creative companies on Earth, reuse the same animation style time and time again. 👉

Where do creativity and originality have a space in this new world?

3. Creativity isn’t dying… Yet.

Going back to those short animated French movies I mentioned in the beginning:

These little animations gave me hope.

Some of these are projects created by animation students, while others are entries from film festivals.

What they have in common is originality.

All of them have distinctive animation styles and unique stories.

None of them have millions of views or thousands of fans.

But they gave me hope that creativity is still out there and we have to push ourselves out of our niche bubbles to find them.

It is our job as consumers of online content to keep our minds open to originality.

Otherwise, creativity is dying before our eyes.

🎉 Cheers,Fanni Sophia