Chances are good you are reading this on a backlit electronic screen. Chances are also good that this article isn’t the only thing that has been presented to you on that screen today. In fact, you have likely seen hundreds of images before you got to this post, and will see hundreds more after it, before you leave this device to go do something else (please be sure to do something else today). If you think something is missing from all of this, you are correct. You are missing the heart of art.

A Tsunami of Information

There is certainly no shortage of media vying for your attention. Right now, there are - conservatively - more than a billion people connected to the Internet (over 5 billion people have Internet access, as of the time of this writing). These people collectively consume more than 10,000,000,000 (that’s ten billion) hours of content per day, every single day. The average American spends 7.5 hours online each day.

Even if you assume that the rate of Internet watching remains static (which it won’t - it will certainly continue to increase), that becomes more than 3 years out of each 10 years of life.

Look at it this way: roughly a third of your life is spent sleeping - about eight hours of every 24 - and work, eating, grooming, commuting and the many other maintenance chores of life take, let’s say, 10 hours per work day (if you’re lucky and don’t have a ridiculous commute).

That’s 18 hours of every 24, leaving six hours for leisure time. But you spend 7.5 on the internet. Then we wonder, “Why don’t I feel like I’m getting anything done?” “Why can’t I get ahead?” And sadly, eventually, “Where did the time go?”

At least the huge chunk of your life spent online adds to the richness of your existence, right? Right?

What’s in There?

Maybe you are an über-disciplined type who consumes only uplifting and intellectually stimulating content that you have carefully curated. Nah. A staggering percentage of your connected time is spent doom-scrolling, just like everyone else.

And that scrolling serves up a healthy diet of ads (I.e. cut-and-paste sales funnels, paid or organic), bots (do you really think all those comments are real people?) and other “content” that is openly and unabashedly stolen from someone else. "Legally," of course, because we “gave them credit.”

Realize also that the more money that is spent on ads, the more likely the platforms’ algorithms are to serve it up to you. So an inordinate amount of junk comes your way, based on info in the world’s databases regarding your online interests.

Don’t believe me? Do a little experiment. Spend an hour scrolling as you normally do online. Keep a written log of how many minutes of that hour you spend engaged by content that is new, original (as far as you can tell, anyway) and actually adds something to your life.

You may well be dismayed by the amount of time you mindlessly consume meaningless detritus. (Am I judging you? Of course not. I do it too, when I let my guard down.)

But is it Art?

We can generously define art by the following metrics: Does it entertain you? Does it teach or inform you? Is your life enriched in trade for the time you spent scrolling and watching? Specifically, did you get an acceptable ROI for your opportunity cost?

I know the answer. And like you, I was depressed (or at least dysthymic) when I took a close look at it.

What else could I have done with all that time? What have I traded for those hours of digital connection? How many trails left un-hiked, sunsets unseen, conversations (with an actual, in-person human being) missed? How many hours have we been absent in our loved ones’ lives?

And then we lament, “They grow up so fast.”

As far as I can surmise, there are two actions we can take to mitigate this overwhelming waste of human consciousness.

How Can I Help You?

The first action we can take is in our role as consumers.

I value my precious hours of consciousness. So I try to go online when I have a specific objective, and then to not succumb to the intentionally seductive siren song of the many shorts, posts, reels, tweets, subreddits - and yes, advertisements - flung my way. Once I get what I came for, I shut it off.

It may be that the thing you seek is specifically the dopamine-fueled mindlessness that comes so easily when the Internet is used as a way to “pass the time.” This pursuit underlies a more troubling situation, which is the subject of another article altogether. And you have less time than you think.

It takes a certain degree of awareness and discipline to connect to the Internet only for specific, predetermined uses. Once mastered, this habit will return a significant portion of your day.

The second action we can take is in our roles as creators, as artists.

The Heart of Art

For all of our talk about artistic freedom (a concept I heartily embrace, by the way), I find we have one overriding obligation, IMHO:

It is incumbent upon us as artists and creators to disseminate meaningful content.

We have a responsibility to give our best to those who may actually be in search of growth, of answers to a question, of community. Maybe just original entertainment.

There is much to be said about how to “give it your best,” but it starts with a principle that is simple in concept, but difficult in execution:

Find an authentic connection with the art you create.

The best that you can offer the world is you. Connect with the magic that you alone possess, the mojo that makes you unique, and invest it into your work. The original work is the only one that matters. Copies are simply restatements of what has previously been said, and are best left to those who can’t be bothered with originality.

The deeper your authentic connection with your work, the more meaningful your creations. And the more likely you are to add something of worth to a value-starved world.



I am a creator (musician, writer, live-streamer and podcaster), entrepreneur, educator and counselor.



To learn more about how to use these concepts or to inquire about working with me, you can contact me through my website, the comments section on my Substack or Medium accounts or The Authentic Life Blog page. If you have found value in this article, follow my Instagram account for daily insights, or my X account for occasional tweets. To support this community, you can Buy Me A Coffee or donate through my Patreon account.



Subscribe to my River of Creation podcast - The Podcast for Creators, coming later this year, wherever you download your podcasts, and my associated YouTube channel. NOTE: The first episodes of the River of Creation are being livestreamed on my Twitch channel and recorded for the podcast now! And the You Tube channel is LIVE! So much fantasticness - come on over!

- JWW