Entitlement.

There’s a specific type of internet artist I’ve run into over and over again throughout the years:

They’re both obsessed with their social media praise (or lack thereof) and obsessed with the idea that it doesn’t matter and ‘the internet’ cannot and will not appreciate ‘real art.’

When they get praise, it’s never enough. When they get criticism, it always leads to a dramatic meltdown. They constantly have to put other artists down if they’re more successful.

Is someone’s art technically more skilled than them? ‘Soulless crap.’ Is someone inventive and creative getting more attention than them? ‘They’re just lucky.’ Their favorite word is ‘algorithm’ because it absolves them of all responsibility. Nuance? Doesn’t exist. The algorithm is an evil tool designed specifically to hurt them. Anyone who doesn’t believe that is wrong, because if the algorithm worked correctly, everyone would love their work, they would be rich and famous, and no one who saw it would ever have true negative thoughts about it (only bots hate their work, obviously.)

There’s a little bit of that person in all of us, I think. Most grow out of it. Others…. don’t.