Broadcast Fatigue

Many artists bemoan the fact that the age of social media demands that we put ourselves front and center on a stage for the whole world to see. I am one of them despite my professional history in digital marketing.

Back then, it was easier because it wasn't myself that I was trying to promote. Heralding messages about better urban design, the faces of farmers, writings of queer scientists, hidden histories of the Philippine archipelago, etc. were all aligned with my advocacy to uplift this godforsaken nation-state. Anyone who has lived in its capital knows how extraordinarily difficult surviving in it is, even (or perhaps especially) within its glittering business districts.

Now that I have to sit down and actually tell people about myself and what this project is, I squirm around. Longform written content like this allows me to express my thoughts in an organized manner that also does not require face time.

We have a wealth of "content" that we can and need to communicate, but processing it with captivating graphics necessitates so much energy. This is why creative studios are so important yet exploited. Big boss capitalists understand that marketing is important, yet do not sympathize for its difficulty.

Posting on social media feels like I'm contributing to the noise of the world, and I was always one to keep mum if there are others talking. But the reality is that one has to speak loud to be heard amidst everything, and I have to park my humility if we want to achieve our goals.

It's also quite difficult for me to have to process the events that happen to us, as travelling also takes up so much energy. By the end of it all, my cup is empty and guilt creeps in for being unable to accomplish communication.

I'm now at a point in my life where I need to delegate this task, but I do not have the means to compensate people properly. Although I know that volunteering is an option, I would really want to properly pay someone for this job given my own experience in this field that lasted the past decade. Unfortunately, this project does not yet make enough to financially sustain itself. As a matter of fact, we have spent so much pursuing this that my bank balance has been red for almost a year now.

So, we find ourselves in a catch-22. We need to say something to connect with others and call aligned people, but to do so strains the driver to a breaking point and there is no way to ask for a reliever.

So forgive us if communication is sparse for now, and quietly distributed on this website. No one likes being bothered with the endless spam that corporations love to send us anyway. I certainly don't.

~ Nikki