No. 29 - February 2025
Transformational, not incremental
If your Instagram feed is anything like mine, it’s full of announcements from people leaving the platform for good or at least considering it. I understand and respect the reasoning but I’m also really fatigued by the same sentiment again and again.
Most things I post on Instagram don’t get nearly as many likes as they used to, which is fine. I treat it more as a portfolio that’s updated slightly more often than my website. I mostly like to post selfies and send memes and see what my friends are up to. I don’t plan on leaving the platform but I don’t feel strongly about people staying or going. I never got on TikTok. I probably won’t make a Bluesky (is it two words? I’m too lazy to look.) I stopped using Twitter and Facebook years ago.
None of this is a righteous stand or weird flex. I mostly feel disinterest in the conversation because I don’t think it should be about finding the next platform to replace Instagram, which had it’s time and place. The world is changing. In the 90s people believed malls would get bigger and more luxurious because they didn’t foresee the shift to e-commerce. People expected that CDs would continue to improve in quality and the number of songs they could hold, not the rise of streaming platforms. Something something about Henry Ford’s “faster horse”.
I don’t fancy myself a trend forecaster or even an early adopter. But I do think the next thing coming isn’t a new social media platform that’s more or less the same but with a different algorithm or better politics. Instead of thinking in terms of incremental improvements, it might be more useful to shift our mindset to transformational change.
Instead of thinking about what platform I’m going to use, I’ve been thinking about how I express myself at all, especially my creativity. I loved making a zine specifically because it wasn’t for people to see on social media, but to hold in their hands. I’ve rethought what I even consider to be creativity. Things I do just for fun, just to entertain myself or make myself laugh, like making themed playlists for my barre classes. Choosing a topic and digging aimlessly through The Internet Archive. Making memes. Being a professional illustrator I often equate my creativity = here is this illustration I made. I want to prioritize putting other things I consider creative out there for people to see. Where that happens is secondary.
This would traditionally be the point in the newsletter where I share new artwork or projects. One of the historical struggles with sending a consistent newsletter was always having new illustrations to show. Sometimes I had no artwork to share because things hadn’t published yet. Sometimes it was slow period. Sending out an illustration newsletter devoid of illustration felt absurd. But I like writing newsletters. It’s fun. I’ll keep having fun with it, outside of just sharing my illustration work.
While I don’t have new projects to share with you this time, you can see my work on my website or Instagram. You can reach out to me directly at hey@sunnyeckerle.com or to my agent if you’d like to work together :)
I love making playlists for the barre classes I teach. Last year I noticed how many Flo Rida songs I had sprinkled throughout some of my mixes and I wondered if I‘d be able make one playlist of 100% Flo Rida (to my earlier point, mostly just to entertain myself and get a laugh). I got to work and…about 10 minutes later it was ready (almost all of his music is the right bpm and energy level for workouts so it wasn’t much of a challenge). A Pitbull playlist followed soon after. And most recently I decided to combine the two artists on to one one playlist.
I give you - Pit Rida. Enjoy during your next workout or if you just need something a bit more upbeat to get thru the workday.
I’m so tired of the “i’m leaving!” And this is very long why. Just go! It’s ok! I love the relationships I have in IG. While I’m engaging less, I’m still there to see what my friends are up too.