Seeing beyond numbers on social media
Finding an actual reader, a human beyond all digits
In March, I happened to write about my experience of Vipassana and why I ran from it. It was a very personal piece, infact I would even go to the extent to say that it was my most personal and intimate piece yet.
Honestly, I was not expecting much from it. There are some pieces you write thinking of the reader in mind and others that you write for yourself. This one as you can guess was purely for myself. It had been 5 years and memories from the Vipassana that I so passionately joined and then left, kept coming back to me.
Next few days, I was quite surprised to find out that my Substack exploded. I was getting messages, comments, subscribers and endless likes. To have my intimate, vulnerable piece be received so well really made me feel so heard and understood. I liked how people were resonating with me, empathising with me and also sharing their own experiences and stories of Vipassana.
It was also the first time that I was getting so much love on social media. Even though I have been writing online for the past decade, mostly on Instagram, I have never been on the receiving end of so much validation. This felt new, addictive and the fact that it wasn’t just on any random piece made me feel like I have finally understood how to write on Substack.
In that month, my subscribers nearly doubled from roughly 300 to more than 600.
Few months later, this is how my June stats looks like. My dashboard announces that I got 4 new subscribers in the last 30 days. I wondered whether to celebrate the fact that the number of subscribers equalled the number of posts I had written in June or lament the fact that even though I was only getting more mindful of what I write, I was gradually losing the plot again.
Out of pure curiosity, I glanced through my subscriber list again and my attention went on those 4 subscribers who had been my new co-travellers in the past month. I spent some time looking at the stats and I found out that one of them had come from a friend’s recommendation, one of them had read few of my posts and even liked them, one of them had commented on my post.
Suddenly, these subscribers were not just a collective number that I was looking at from a distance but real readers, actual humans like myself. I read their names aloud. Saw their email ID, checked the date on which they had subscribed.
I came to a dawning realisation a little too late, a little too early that these digits that looked seemingly uninspiring, always a little too less, hid behind them the faces and feelings of actual human beings who had taken out time to read my work.
I couldn’t help but sit back with a deep sense of gratitude. Social media has allowed us to write and freely publish our work enabling us to connect with people all across the world. It’s a great power to have as a writer, but social media has also bastardised what numbers look like and mean to us. Anything less than a thousand feels amateur, anything above ten thousand automatically feels worthy of praise and celebration, people in hundreds feel shy to label themselves as serious writers and even seemingly average writers proudly flaunt their writing with the backing of big numbers.
In the last few days of zooming out to mindfully restructure and repurpose my writing practice, I took a back seat from using AI, using my pen and paper to write and now the next on my list is to fall in love with the human being behind the number.
I feel immense affection and admiration when I interact with someone’s work. The excitement with which I subscribe to someone, the happiness with which I sometimes hit a like and the feeling of awe that drives me to comment on a post. It would be a shame for all my feelings of wonder to be seen as a mere statistic or a data to sit back and ponder on. I realised how I was reducing my readership and the beauty of it to just data.
To every reader who choses to read my work even if sporadically or even if you later decide to unsubscribe and take a pause, I see you, the person behind the number and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for spending your precious time. I hope to always write and make you feel that your time spent was worthy.
Thanks for reading.
This newsletter is ad-free, AI-free, and an anti-algorithm publication.
The Storytellers Collective for July batch commenced today morning. It’s the second batch and I am excited to integrate all my learnings from the previous batch into this one. Yesterday, we had our last call of the first batch and I couldn’t help but feel very emotional about the entire journey we shared. Excited to share updates from the July batch. If you wish to join Storytellers Collective, check out the attached link or email me to know more.
I invite you to reflect and write on the following prompt:
How do you make sense of numbers on social media? Do numbers affect your presence here?
As a feature of all my newsletters, I share a blackout poem, a quote, a song, a book,
plant-based meal, film/video that inspired me, and some photographs.
Blackout Poem: Tutorial to make your blackout poem
Quote: “What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though.” - J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
On Substack, we can message them for sure :)
Song: I have been listening to this playlist lately by the evergreen Kishore Kumar.
Book/Newsletter/Article: I started reading ‘Gunaho ka Devta’ few months back - A book that I had been wanting to read for the past many months. However, I found it to be a difficult read so I started with few simpler books like that of Divya Prakash Dubey. After reading 3 of his books, I tried reading Gunaho ka Devta but somehow still found it difficult to read so I gave up. After a reading slump of 2 months, I decided to experiment with audiobooks and downloaded audible. I have a free trial for a month and I was elated to find Gunaho ka Devta as an audibook there. I have been listening to it the past few days and it’s been such a joy. I could never wrap my head around audiobooks but I am so glad that I am able to finally relish Gunaho ka Devta. Will share more about my audiobook adventures next week :)
Meal: My friends came home last week and I loved making millet noodles with them and having it together.
Film/Video: Sharing a youtube video I worked on last week. It’s a tutorial on how to make a zine. Hope you find it useful and you’re able to make amazing, creative zines using this tutorial. Happy creating!
Photograph(s):
Read my other newsletters :
Why I Ran From Vipassana
The story of moving to the mountains
My relationship with failure
Photography, my first love
Read my short stories :
Socratree
Quenched
Chetak
Coronaceptive
Compilation of all recommendations :
Video recommendations
Music recommendations
Books read
Free Journaling eBook:
Last year, I compiled a journaling ebook for myself for times when I feel I have nothing to write. I am offering it to you for free. Whether you’re starting your journaling journey or feeling stuck in a creative block, this guide will help you find your way.
Download your journaling eBook here.
Thank you for reading my work
Rishabh