Consume Or Create?

The first draft of this was in the fall… of 2022. Lots more to say here, but obviously the issues of procrastination, perfectionism, and general time management rear their ugly head. Since then I've consumed too much, so let's start off 2025 in the direction of more creation (including the top photo, from Hawaii in 2022):

Who doesn't love to do a little consuming? From the low-brow trashy TV to the big, dense novel, there's so much more than we can ever hope to experience. And, of course, it is easier than ever to access just about anything you could possibly want.

I won't deny it: I love it. And I love spending almost as much time finding the next best thing to consume. (Yes, I definitely spend more time browsing through titles than actually watching them.) It is a privilege and luxury to have the time and means to "consume" rather than "survive."

But, and you knew there was a "but" coming, it is too easy to consume rather than produce something creative. So easy it leads to consuming winning out over producing, over and over, becoming the default. In other words, it is too easy to watch Netflix or YouTube or browse social media and drain yourself of that vital essence to create something.

I've had this thought in my head even as I sit down, night after night, to watch something. It could be simple and stupid entertainment, or something that engages and challenges me, yet still, I find the end result to be sapping me of my own creativity.

Of course, producing something creative is difficult. It isn't as simple as "stop watching TV and you'll create more" or "entertainment is bad." There is no substitute for the toil and opening of yourself that something creative demands. It is just too easy to create yet more barriers.

Entertainment, in and of itself, is fundamental to who we are. Humans (and animals!) like to play. There's such a range too, from genres to mediums, such a diversity of what is out there existing to be consumed. Some of the problem these days isn't from the content so much as how it is presented: infinite scrolls, a constant feed, algorithms designed to keep you from looking away. The consumer and producer both have been suffering in this arrangement, constrained to produce in this way and stuck in consuming through this lens.

I'm not saying we shouldn't enjoy the arts, lesser and greater. One of the first pieces of advice you'll find for improving your writing is to read more. I imagine it is similar for other forms, looking critically at other photographs, or watching a film with an ear for the dialog. Certainly taking in (and critiquing) other work is an important part of progressing in an art. However, I think that ultimately needs to be balanced with not getting constantly pulled by everyone else's ideas, giving yourself room to breathe and remain fresh. To be bored, even. Learning more is great, but it can also be a trap, a "productive" consumption that never leads anywhere, a student forever and a creator never.

Of course, not everything has to be held to some standard of "art." There's plenty of use for that simplistic action movie or poorly worded, yet engaging, thriller of a novel. Work that often isn't associated with "art," subjective as it is, has still been created by someone. This should be valued. I don't want to discredit the role of entertainment for the sake of just being entertained, forgetting, escaping…enjoying for the fun of it.

Yet it is all too easy to fall down this hole, chasing one more episode, the next exciting action sequence, consuming and consuming and consuming. In the end I ask myself, much too late at night as I crawl into bed, "what did I do today?"

While I wouldn't wish a life of just leisure on my worst enemy (they deserve much worse), I'm not sure I would wish it upon my best friend either.

I strongly feel that creating something is essential. That doesn't mean crafting a sculpture to stand the test of time or writing the Great American Novel; it could also mean creating a smile on someone else's face, easing someone's burden, leaving the space around you a little better than you found it. Creativity and creation mean much more than making something tangible. Creation is life.

So when I feel that I am not creative, in whatever capacity, I feel less alive. I feel that I am merely a consumer rather than a human. Consumption is not bad. But when all you do is consume, what are you left with?

(This essay is also on Substack if you prefer that platform or emails in the future. Or follow the post on Mastodon)