Today’s post is less about digital minimalism, but I will see if I can somehow tie it back together. I want to talk about the idea that people need to start gatekeeping again. Whether it is a hobby they enjoy, music they listen to, or anything in between. We need to have the idea that everything is not for everyone. Where is this sentiment coming from, you might ask? It stems from the frustrations that people feel when the TikTok culture creates a trend that catches on, then pushes the people that truly enjoy the trend (and have well before it became a trend) away from the thing they love. We see this in so many facets of our society. 

Let’s start with the example of photography. To those who don’t know, there is a Fujifilm camera that has recently become very trendy on TikTok: the Fuji X100VI. This camera was released in 2024 and has been sold out ever since. It normally retails for $1,800, but is known to be sold for well over $2,000. Why is this camera in such high demand? Because TikTok has shown it to the world and shown its powerful film simulations that take a digital camera and give you the look of a film photo. Now you might think that this type of camera would have been popular well before TikTok. Not necessarily. Fuji has made cameras with film simulations for over 10 years, and never have they seen this sort of supply and demand issue. Let me tell a story of the most egregious example of this. One day my husband and I were in our local camera shop to drop off some film to get developed. While we were waiting in line, there was what looked to be a 20-something-year-old girl looking at Fuji cameras. The main thing she was worried about was taking pictures to post on social media. She complained that the cameras were slower than her phone and, worst of all, asked where to put the film in the camera. That just goes to show she wasn’t actually interested in the art of using the camera and getting to know it, she was just interested in the fast outcome to make her photos look good for an algorithm. My husband and I both looked at each other and later spurred a conversation, similar to what I am writing about now. 

Another photography-related example is the recent rise of the point-and-shoot digicam. I’m talking about the shitty little cameras from the early 2000s that were never all that great, but everyone had one because they were convenient, and our phones did not take reliable photos. Ten years ago, you probably couldn’t give your old digicam away. Now, you can get $200-300 for that same camera that probably only retailed for $150 brand new. Of course, other smaller companies/startups have caught on to this trend, and we are now seeing Temu-esque white-label digicams that are even worse than the original versions. At least the original digicams weren’t trying to be something they aren’t. They were fairly affordable cameras that had good enough specs to take pictures without people having to know much about photography. Now, these modern renditions are trying to take our modern technology and shitify it so much that it just makes it look like a terrible digital photo. These companies have no long-lasting future and will only be around as long as a trend is. 

The last example I will give is the music industry. Let me explain further because the music industry has always been about trends. However, social media has made it to where everyone gets to participate. It used to be that if you were an artist, you would make your way by being a songwriter, a singer, or a band. You would play in little dive bars, talent shows, etc. in the hopes that a label would find you and publish you. If you were a band, you probably couldn’t find other ways with playing local shows and selling CDs or such. I have never been a musician, but that seems to be the gist of what I have gathered. Now, anyone with a means of recording (even using just your phone) can publish music on social media and even music streaming services. There is little to no barrier to entry. Before I get blasted, I am not saying people should have to be limited in expressing their creative outlets. I also think the old way of working through the ranks of just hoping to be discovered is slimy and not fair. However, completely eliminating the barriers to entry makes the art disposable and to me degrades the quality of music. Artists can write a viral song and then never be heard from again. Artists seemingly tend to trend more toward single releases rather than full albums of music. 

All of these examples I have given may seem harsh, and that is okay if you feel that way. I think everyone has the right to dive headfirst into something they enjoy, and if you need to try a few hobbies to find what you love, that’s okay too. I think where I struggle with this is when people get into something simply because they saw it online, and now they want a slice of the views/likes/engagement from posting about doing that very thing, whether they actually enjoy it or not. I think it is important for people to have things they do for the simple purpose of their own enjoyment. For me, I have photography and this blog that I enjoy sharing my thoughts. I hope you too can find something you truly enjoy for yourself, and not because an algorithm told you to enjoy it.