Is broadcasting our new catalyst for connection?

I had a great aversion to social media that hindered my engagement with others. I noticed that ingesting social media made me prone to comparing my life to the hyper-positive fragments of others' lives — and we all know by now, that's a recipe for unhappiness. Comparison is the thief of joy after all.

But there's great power in broadcasting what we do. It leads to connection. Perhaps broadcasting leads to more than just connection — it's the generation of opportunity. The proclaiming of “look, I made this!” and see what inbounds come our way from our declaration, who is drawn to our beacon.

There is a material difference in how people engage with me and my music when I post something online. People actually show up to my shows when I market them myself. People actually reach out to me for collaborations when they see what I've been creating. I think it shapes the image of me that is stored in their minds.

Around the end of last year, I committed myself to sharing one musical thing on social media each day. This has usually taken the form of an IG story. Posting something each day has challenges me to keep creative with my content while simultaneously dropping perfectionism — if you have to ship something every day, you can't always afford to polish it. I've shipped some very basic material, but I'm always happy that I've shipped something.

It's been about 30 days of shipping something each day. It feels like a snowball effect — more and more engagement each day, musical and tech skills increasing each day as I'm forced to solve new creative and technical problems. And honestly, it's pretty fun.