Chasing Likes, Losing Vision: Is Social Media Warping Photography?

Social media has transformed photography—launching careers, shaping trends, and fueling creativity. The question must be asked: Are photographers shaping their vision, or is the algorithm shaping it for them?

The Rise of the Dopamine Rush

You can’t argue that platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok have made photography and other art forms more accessible by introducing educational content through reels and posts. They have also created viral trends and shaped industry trends. Take TikTok, for example. Doomscroll for any length of time, and you start to notice a pattern of content—one creator after another with the same content, only with a minimal twist from the last one. Nothing is too unique anymore—just another creator chasing what social media has become: a chase for comments, likes, and virality. What that truly means is a dopamine rush.

At one time, the dream of any photographer would be to have an exhibition at a gallery. These days, I rarely hear that dream. Now, it is, “I want to be an influencer.” Why? Instant validation and the dopamine rush. With each comment, like, and interaction, one feels the validation they longed for. Finally, they are a real photographer because they influence and get brand deals. That validation should come from the phone ringing and booking business. For non-business photographers, it should be the joy you get from creating images and just doing it—the same goes for professional photographers.

With all this, Instagram-worthy photography emerged—hyper-aesthetic images designed and optimized for engagement.

The Algorithm Effect

We don’t know and will never know exactly what the algorithm favors, but we have a good idea. Algorithms are designed to prioritize content that engages users, which means they start to serve and reward creators for content with appealing visuals and predictable styles—giving the poster what they desire: a rush of dopamine and validation. Bright, vibrant colors and minimalistic edits tend to stand out to the doomscrollers of the internet. Remember when HDR (High Dynamic Range) was the newest craze? It was all those highly saturated images that made people stop and take a look. The popular styles and aesthetic images that are posted grab the attention of viewers, creating engagement.

Now, those images are all being disseminated across feeds because of engagement, not because they are technically excellent. A trend has started, and others see 500 likes and start creating images exactly like that, thinking they will get the same, which rarely happens. Entering the scene unknowingly, we create images for engagement—not for art or satisfaction. I know photographers with more than 16,000 followers and an average of hundreds of reactions per post. Yet, they complain that they are getting nothing from their social media. I tell people that hearts, likes, and emojis don’t pay the bills. The algorithm favors a formulaic approach, not artistic expression.

The algorithm pressures creators to create and post frequently. We start to feel the need to maintain a constant presence to stay in front of others to feel relevant and visible. As a result, many are caught in a vicious cycle of quantity over quality—creating and posting images optimized for the algorithm, not images that reflect their artistic expression. No longer does one explore creating images with meaning and thought, but rather, images are churned out like a factory—all in the name of consistently posting and reaching for engagement.

This is where the hit of dopamine comes into play. Each like, comment, and share produces a tiny amount of dopamine, which becomes validation and creates a desire to post more. The cycle of addiction starts, and validation becomes the primary motivation for creating. Overshadowed by the addiction to develop solely for validation, photography is no longer a creative pursuit but a pursuit for a dopamine rush and validation.

The Cycle: Are We Losing Originality?

Trends, especially viral trends, often dictate creative choices, leading photographers to gravitate toward styles and techniques they wouldn’t typically pursue. Drones, saturated colors, cinematic portraits, and videos have all been trends photographers have jumped on. When they fade out, they jump from one sinking boat to another. Trends are attention-grabbing and create the engagement photographers think they need. They feel pressured to find the next big trend to receive their part of the pie.

Look at Facebook reels—you go to create a reel, and the first thing it shows is trending audio. They want you to use it; they know you will because it’s trending. Why is it trending? It has gone viral.

Originality becomes lost. Everyone uses the same formula because an Instagram reel says, “Do these five things to boost your engagement” or “Here are five edits for your next photo.” Now, feeds are full of images that all look the same, making it hard to distinguish one from another. We stop using our creativity and wait for the next reel or post to tell us what to do. We have become reactive rather than proactive in our work.

All originality is lost, and we are limited in our creativity, restricting personal growth. The core of any photographer’s journey is experimentation and curiosity. We try new techniques, push our boundaries, and explore new subjects. Our attention has now shifted to what is popular or going viral.

The Mental Toll

Social media has become a fantastic tool for photographers, allowing for exposure, networking, and critiques at their fingertips. However, that’s just scratching the surface. If you dig deeper, it has a darker side. It starts to take a mental toll on creatives, and I feel like this is a topic some feel is taboo and rarely speak up about. It’s a constant sprint to try to build engagement, stay relevant, and compare ourselves to others—but at what cost?

Engagement over fulfillment becomes the primary focus. It transforms into an obsession, leading us to equate fulfillment and success with likes, comments, and shares. This shift turns our passion for our craft into a focus on performance—not our performance as creatives, but our performance for an online audience.

When engagement starts to wane, imposter syndrome begins to knock at our back door—calling our name like a bad dream. We begin to believe thoughts like, “Are we good enough? Why did we start this?” and “Am I as skilled as others?” These feelings make us second-guess whether we are “real” photographers or if we measure up to what we believe are more successful photographers. Our creativity is gone, and we may start to mimic others in pursuit of the engagement that social media tells us we need to be successful.

While social media provides that validation we feel we need, it's also a harsh environment. In the harsh land we call social media lives, a group many are too familiar with. They live in dimly lit environments shrouded in mystery, on the hunt for their prey. This group? It is the trolls and the keyboard warriors of the internet. All they know is negativity, leaving comments that make many give up and feel inadequate. They are the ones that throw the fuel on the fire. 

This leads photographers to self-censor and post less frequently or not at all. They start sharing only what they think will perform well and what feels "safe," trying to avoid negativity. This may encourage more engagement, but the work often lacks meaning or artistic expression. All of this stems from fear of the trolls and keyboard warriors on the internet. One must look beyond these challenges and learn to take control and break the cycle. Once you recognize these traps, you can break free. You can begin to redefine success on your own terms, not based on others' opinions. Then, you can reignite the motivation and passion that were once lost, focusing on creating self-expressive images with deeper significance, thus breaking away from the constraints of social media and the constant chase for engagement. Photography is about your vision, not the vision of others.

Reclaim Your Voice

Taking a break from social media is a healthy habit that must be understood and accepted as normal. Some strategies can help you break away from the chains of engagement and social media.

• Create Offline: Create work without thinking about posting it. Focus on the image-making process and creating meaningful work.
• Follow Your Heart, Not Trends: Your heart and gut will get you much farther than a new trend. Go with what feels “natural” and “right,” even if you are unsure what those feelings mean.
• Limit Metrics: Avoid looking at the metrics of posts on your social media pages. It hinders more than it helps.
• Print Your Work: Start shifting away from digital media and focus on creating tangible pieces of your work. Trust me, you will learn a lot more.

In the End

Social media is both a curse and a blessing, all packed up in a pretty little box with a big bow on top. Once that box is unwrapped and the layers unpacked, sometimes it becomes a nightmare of a gift sprinkled with positivity like exposure, networking, and community. If it's not kept on a tight leash, it becomes a beast of burden, and it turns into an everlasting nightmare that creates struggles and takes a mental toll. If managed well, our thoughts are kept in check, and we do not take things so seriously; it can be one of the most powerful tools we have as photographers.