The internet is an interesting place. It’s been a boon and bane to modern society. Whatever one’s opinions may be on it, you simply can’t deny the fact that the internet has been the driving force behind the development of the world.

But that’s not what we’re here to talk about. It’s been talked about often and I don’t think I will be able to add anything of value to the discourse.

Instead, I think I wanna touch upon the experience of it. Having been born in the early 2000s, the internet has been intrinsic to my life. Unfortunately, may I add. Turns out having unrestricted access to the internet at the age of 9 is not for the faint of heart.

It’s interesting to see how the internet has evolved over so many years, especially the social aspect of it. There was once a time when you’d take 3 to 4 minutes typing up an SMS on your Nokia. Fast forward a few years and everyone now possesses their own smartphone with the world at the touch of your finger.

I remember my first exposure to YouTube, back in 2012. I was with my sister at her friend’s place. It was there where I watched my first YouTube video. It was a music video by One Direction.

That makes me feel dated, like an unc, so to say.

But I vividly remember the internet being free. Free from restraints and commercialization, or at least not completely consumed by the latter.

Internet services like YouTube, Vine(RIP) and Reddit played a huge role in shaping my personality. I guess, I’ve always been pretty chronically online since forever. It’s almost embarrassing to admit it, but that’s just the way it is.

However, being chronically online gave me a first-eye witness account of how the internet evolved over time. I vividly remember the times when YouTube was ruled by creatives like Ryan Higa, PewDiePie, Smosh, Jacksepticeye etcetera etcetera. These were people you could look up to, who did not let the algorithm dictate what they created.

Ryan Higa, especially is a person who has always enamored me. He would create comedic skits that were genuinely witty and fun to watch.

But soon enough, the tides shifted as YouTube’s policies shifted to favor the corporate agenda and monetization. With that, came censorship and that led to the inevitable downfall of creatives.

It’s not like there aren’t boundary pushing creators out there right now in the digital realm. There are plenty that I’ve come to admire but it still leaves a lot to be desired.

Sometime around 2019 to 2020 came a wave. A wave so ginormous, the remnants of it still haunt the current media ecosystem. The wave I’m referring to here, is self-help/self-improvement, whatever you may wanna call it.

Self-Improvement in itself isn’t a bad concept. It’s pretty good for the individual self, to be fair. But when everything is looked at from the lens of self-improvement and optimization, something very valuable gets lost in the mix. That is the space to make errors.

A lot of beauty is born out of human errors. And when the goal of your creation lays in perfection rather than expression, something doesn’t feel right; to me at least.

This brings us to the title of this article. The Preacher’s Circle-Jerk.

That’s the term I use to define people who hound you online, telling you, ‘This is where you’re getting it wrong’ or ‘This is what you SHOULDN’T do when you’re making x’. Sure, these are probably just ways to capture the viewer’s attention but its gotten to a point where it makes me wanna throw my phone onto oncoming traffic.

Creating stuff should be free of algorithm-baiting, and I personally refuse to cater to any algorithm.

You don’t just see it on Instagram or YouTube. You see it on Substack, where every third article is about some ‘epidemic’ pertaining to either digital addiction, modern romance or de-digitizing your life.

It’s depressing. And exasperating. And everything in between.

I wish for the world to look beyond profitability and optimization, at least in the field of creatives. There’s beauty in rawness. There’s a reason why films look naturally beautiful at 24 frames per second and absolutely abhorrent at 60 frames per second. There’s a reason why modern producers still use vinyl cracks in the sonic compositions.

We must accept the fact that beauty of some things lies in their imperfections. The same thing can be said about humanity as a species so that gives you something to dwell upon..