Competing vs. Collaborating online

Joseph Gordon-Levitt on how attention online lacks creativity

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a well-known actor, has had his share of dealing with social media and how it’s becoming more and more of a competition to see who perceives themselves “better” online. Gordon-Levitt discussed two pretty powerful dynamics of paying attention and getting attention, in his Ted Talk titled, “How craving attention makes you less creative.”  On social media, people tend to strive for the attention part and not actually focusing in on one thing. Like Gordon-Levitt said in his Ted Talk, he is able to pay attention when he’s acting but once he logs on to Twitter, for instance, he becomes more and more hungry for attention, which in turn interrupts more of the creative process – competing with peers, wanting follower count to exceed a certain number, and just overall being unsatisfied with it all has become just some of the reasons why social media has made the process of thinking outside of the box, tough.


This topic is especially important to better understand social media use as Gordon-Levitt dives into how, as humans, we all strive to appear like we have it all, but in reality we are probably more and more unhappy because it’s not real and we often times seek some sort of validation from Twitter followers or Instagram followers to make ourselves look better online, but it’ll never be enough. Gordon-Levitt decides that in order for a person to truly pay attention, especially on social media; they must be present, look at peers as collaborators instead of competitors, and being able to pay attention to one thing.

Ways to not fall into the ‘attention’ trap – Insights into being more fulfilled online:

Collaboration not Competition

Anytime anyone posts on Twitter or Instagram, and really any social media site, people are seeking likes/comments and in turn  - attention. The craving for more and more attention causes much stress to fulfill follower counts, based on the reality of our own peers. Even someone as famous as Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is overwhelmed with seeing other actors perform better online, which makes him feel worse and inadequate – looking at them as his competition and not as collaborators. If the person’s individual desire is driven by attention then they will never be fulfilled – always seeking more. The goal is to see people as someone you would like to work with someday, and just spread more overall collaboration,  rather than trying to fixate on a never ending cycle of ‘being better’ than the other and to simply be willing to share new ideas.

Find the Flow

Often times on social media, we all get into the trap of mindless notifications, scrolling endlessly and seeing everyone you know doing “better” than you are. But, as Gordon-Levitt mentioned, the more we find the flow and being more present in our day-to-day, we will become more happier than by being bombarded with countless notifications and the white noise of everyone else. Separate it all, by being more aware of breaking down when to scroll and when not to scroll – it’s an addiction. As with anything in our life, social media has become one of the biggest addictions and some people don’t think it’s a big deal. It is. Being able to set yourself aside from the phone/computer for a little bit, will help the mind grow stronger from relinquishing in the growing trend of trying to feed the attention.

One Focus

Setting ourselves more on one specific thing as opposed to a myriad of various things, we become more aware of what is going on, by paying more attention to one thing and not multiple things at once. As Joseph Gordon-Levitt, mentioned when he’s acting he is able to be in the moment and just focus in on one thing; his art of acting  and nothing else. With social media, it’s an entirely different ball game, trying to not get distracted with everything – that’s tough. But, realizing the set thing you want to hone in on online is having one clear focus , which is the real mindset to be more aware of, to not be overwhelmed and crave meaningless attention.

How to Implement These Insights Moving Forward:

All of these insights; Collaboration not Competition, Finding the Flow, and One Focus all help make a social media user more fulfilled and become more creative. These can be used for personal use on social media or as part of an organization. These insights are especially useful to any person or entity – and being able to become more at ease online, rather than feeling a sudden urge to fulfill unnecessary demands to grow follower count because of someone else, the content should speak for itself and be able to grow organically – through the use of people collaborating, being present on one specific task, and being more present in the process.



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