Is Social Media worth it for artists?

Speaking as a creator myself, I have come to the conclusion that it really all has come full circle to us having to do things the old-fashioned way. We have gotten so used to using social media for instant-promotion and instant-gratification for our work that we have forgotten about how difficult it was and how long it took for artists to be appreciated beforehand.  

Think about famous artists from centuries ago? While they were alive, they were not appreciated for the most part. Today, they are greatly appreciated and called geniuses. In their times, some were even called crazy.

Someone who is determined can find a way to make anything work for themselves, so, I would never say you should "abandon" social media. However, I DO think people need to understand what social media truly IS, as a means of control. It's not there for YOUR benefit. It's there for someone else's benefit, and they are using YOU for that benefit.  

There are a lot of people out there that got fat eating off the social-media smorgasbord when it was doing what they "claim" it does now. Some of those people unfortunately look down upon others that don't have the large following that they have. If you gained hundreds of thousands of subs to your Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Facebook, or any other major social media platform 10 years ago or so when IMO social media was at its peak of usefulness, of course you are going to have a different perspective because you already have a huge following, and it was pretty easy to get one, at that time.   

Even with the algorithm garbage of today, the pool is deep enough that if you have a huge following already to where you have enough people that will keep coming back regardless of the frequency of your content, organic growth is not as much of an issue. HOWEVER..... .....if you are someone that has a small following, or are someone that is just starting out, and the social media platform is only allowing less than 5% of people who follow you to see your content, and probably less than 1% organically, you cannot grow a brand that way. AT ALL. It's not about the "quality" of your work. It's not about the "quantity" of your work. It's all about whether or not you are willing to sell out to that particular platform to push whatever agendas they want to be pushed.  

PERIOD, POINT BLANK.   

It's that simple. 

If you are posting content that is divisive and inflammatory, content that is decadent with self-absorption (e.g. people pushing materialistic lives to the max showing themselves shopping all the time buying expensive clothes, eating high-priced food, traveling to expensive vacation resorts, etc., posting absolute foolishness and goofiness with people sticking forks in light sockets, or trying to parachute off the top of their house with a bath towel, or anything that at its core is 100% useless,) then you get a surprisingly consistent amount of traffic because the platforms want you to think this is what life is all about.  

If you are posting content that is inclusive to EVERYBODY, that is welcoming, content, that is helping others by teaching or giving tips to improve various aspects of life with content that is designed to just have fun with cool stuff whether it be art, music, movies, TV shows, toys, hobbies, video games, comics, manga, anime, etc., that EVERYONE can relate to and enjoy, and just enjoy posting positive content that in general is useful and uplifting to people, unsurprisingly it is extremely difficult to get a consistent amount of traffic or even get people that follow you anyway to see your content.  

What a coincidence. 

So, we are going to have to go back to doing things the old school way. Pounding that pavement to push our brands. Going out to meet people at as many events as we can go to. Funnel people to our own personal websites, chat rooms, Discord servers, etc. where WE can control engagement and use social media to our advantage as just a tool in our toolbox in our cars rather than THE car we drive every day.