They’re content creators with thousands of adoring fans – so why do they feel so terrible?

Julianna Pillemer, an organizational psychologist at NYU, spent years researching a paradox affecting modern content creators. In interviews with fifty-four musicians and visual artists who'd achieved massive online followings, she found that success comes with an insidious psychological cost. Creators become entangled with their audiences — trapped not just in what they make, but in how they understand themselves. One illustrator named Mark built millions of followers making relatable comics, the dream he once loved. Today, he says he'd rather die than make another one, yet he's bound to them because that's what his audience expects. As The Conversation reports, this pattern held across the board. Creators described feeling flattened and haunted by their followers' reactions. Some couldn't even accept praise without feeling overwhelmed. The irony is brutal: the audience that made their creative work sustainable has become its biggest threat. Some found relief through setting boundaries, but for many, the pressure to perform for an expectant audience remains the defining challenge of digital creative work.

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton