Why I Quit DeviantArt

As of now I only have a Private Discord and an Instagram for Social Media.

Discord is the only Social Media I actively use as a way to communicate with friends I made on Facebook and DeviantArt in the past, as well as some of my offline friends who have since moved to the Mainland. I begrudgingly went back on Instagram late last year for the sake of having a Social Media for the Cons & Craft Fairs I wanted to go to. However, I have since decided that I was gonna hold off on going to said Fairs & Cons because the costs are not worth the limited sales I made there. There are some good things I find on Instagram, but I don't see myself actively using It this year.

I also sorta have a YouTube, but I only have one video on there I am particularly proud about (mainly as a point of reference), the rest are thowaway videos

However, This is a far cry from all of the other social media accounts I had prior. But no site has defined my Social Media years more than DeviantArt...for obvious reasons. Nevertheless, by mid 2024, I had decided once and for all to throw in the towel and delete all of my accounts.

In This Article, I Will Explain Why...

Like all Social Media Websites, DeviantArt was a good idea for a website in theory. The Idea was to have a platform for young spunky artists [like me...at least at the time] to have a platform to post and showcase their art without the corporate gatekeeping. And...for a while...It worked. It was because of this that, when I finally decided to go into Cartooning, I went with DeviantArt.

So What Happened? reality happened

Social Media (like all words and phrases with the word "Social" in it; e.g. Socialism, Social Justice, etc) has the problem of sounding good in theory but failing in practice. The idea is that people on social media sites will be able to put themselves out there and find communities without the limits of traditional gatekeeping. This only works until the first wave of abusers show up and begin to screw up the system (as it happened with MySpace, Twitter, and Tumblr). In addition, Social Media companies are still companies, and they do need to make money. This is where the predatory ads and algorithms come in (as is the case on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram). In other words, Social Media ends up being just Brodcast TV on steroids. Also, As AI generated content becomes more commonplace on social media, this opens up another pandora's box for the predatory nature of Social media

DeviantArt suffered from All three.

Somewhere down the road, DeviantArt began to suffer from a problem of "throwaway posting". These are posts that Aren't actual quality pieces of art made by skilled artist but things that felt more like screenshots, kindergartner drawings, and meme fodder slapped together with MS Paint. Unfortunately, this is something I noticed even initially and, I'm ashamed to admit but, even I somewhat participated in.

And then there was the Fetish art (that I refused to do even then). Worse than the bizarre nature of what aroused people on that site is just how much content there is of them.

Initially, this was offset by the fact that genuinely talented and experienced artists were still online. For example, I first discovered Tom Bancroft while on DeviantArt. However, as the big names started to leave, things stared to change and the latter two became more prevalent. There were times I had to bookmark my page so I didn't have to look at said stuff in my recommended feed.

Now with this in view, I spent years going back and forth having an account on DeviantArt to hopefully build a following for The Donoverse, even though I really didn't feel I had anything to show for it yet other than one shot artwork. I was also experiencing the usual cocktail of mental health problems that most social media users experienced and were told to just deal with. Just the usual; Mean nonconstructive comments, online addiction, comparison traps, etc.

But the straw that broke the camels back occurred in 2024.

It was then when I discovered that the Website was giving an interview to an AI user who became a best seller on the site. It was well into the DeviantArt "AI" era and I was already super suspicious. But this, alongside my long list of personal and creative struggles that were building up overtime, finally made me decide that enough was enough. By June 2024, I was off for good.

It has now been a year and a half. Occasionally, I check in on the site to see what's up. Now there are times I do miss what the site used to be and wonder if I betrayed my followers on there. However, when I do check in on the site, I realize that It's only getting worse and It's not worth it.

But here's the real kicker

I published my first Donoverse book in late September of 2024 (a few months after I left). I have since published two more books at the tail end of last year. Does Leaving DeviantArt have something to do with it? Probably not. However, I have been starting to wonder if leaving certain online time sinks, like DeviantArt, are the key to creativity for me?

One final thought.

I started this blog initally as an alternative to using Social Media. My last article I posted shortly before using Instagram more to accommodate the craft fairs & Cons. But now that I decided to hold off on them, I am back on my blog for now.