It is said that around 90% of internet users are lurkers- people who consume content but don’t create or engage with it. Around 9% are contributors- people who like, comment, or share content. And the remaining 1% are creators.
I’ve always been part of the overwhelming majority. On Facebook (my only social media platform for years), I rarely engaged with even the content of friends. I rarely updated my status or uploaded pics. I value my privacy, and I just didn’t have the energy to put myself out like that, even to people who already knew me. The thought of being a content creator, through any medium or platform, felt ridiculous to me. What would I create? Who would I create for? Would anyone be interested in whatever I created. If I created something & it never grows an audience, is that a failure under my belt?
Overtime I realized that my inability to create was rooted in my own insecurities & the fear of being judged by people whose opinions really shouldn’t matter to me at the end of the day. Lurking is safe. You receive the benefit of enjoying other people’s content while remaining anonymous and unjudged.
If I had to pinpoint when I started to reconsider my status as a lurker, it was probably while I was, of course, consuming content on YouTube. I happened upon a video from a youtuber with a modest following. The video was titled “You’ve consumed enough. God wants you to create”. The video is personal and very relatable. Through narrating his own experiences working an unsatisfying job, the owner of the channel explains how overconsumption of content leaves us unfulfilled and that we can achieve that fulfillment by actually creating things. “Things” can be digital or physical content. It can be a large project or something that takes a couple of hours. The quality of the product doesn’t matter at this point, as it will surely get better over time as you create more. Whatever you need to produce, you’re ready now. Create something.
The owner asserts that we are created in God’s image, & designed to be creators, not consumers. He even provides an actionable step to get started- create content that you consume. And at this time, I was consuming a lot of content based on learning Spanish & touring other countries. As such, I made an Instagram account with the hopes of documenting some of my travels to foreign countries, using Spanish whenever appropriate. I made a silly little children’s e-book in Spanish currently sold on Amazon (“Yo Busco una Mascota”). And of course, I made this blog to create written content based on my travels & experience as a language learner and now-creator.
I have less than 20 followers on Instagram. Nobody has bought my e-book. And this blog gets limited views and every “like” feels like a small victory. But I am creating something. I’m doing it because it takes effort, whiles consuming doesn’t. If you create something positive, enlightening, or just entertaining, some people will gravitate towards it. Even better, they may offer constructive criticism so that you can improve the quality of your product and gain a larger audience.
I believe we are all works of art created in His image and, as such, we should proudly share ourselves and our God-given gifts with the world in some form. When someone gives you a gift, you don’t hide it in shame. Show it off! Use it! For the less spiritually inclined, the point remains. You have something to offer to some people. I like how Jim Carrey once put it: “Risk being seen in all your glory”. You may never reach the kind of following Mr. Beast has achieved, but there will be those who appreciate your decision to be bold and authentic.
To all the lurkers out there, if you’ve been stuck in the comfort of scrolling, maybe it’s time you step out of your comfort zone and start creating. Something. Anything. Whatever it is, you’re ready now.
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