Escaping the Algorithm, Missing the Buzz

What happens when creatives abandon platform algorithms in search of freedom only to find a new kind of frustration?

Lives in a van. Bimbles with a camera. Often pointing his pixel box at scruff. Has been known to run long distances. Would consider cake as a form of payment. Recovering.

While I’ve been enjoying posting my thoughts and images here on Substack, I’ve continued to cross-post to my personal blog, with some extracts even making it into my monthly newsletter. I will continue to do this, as I’m pretty sure within a year or so this place, like so many before it, will no longer serve my purpose, or at the very least my purpose will be a distant second behind its own.

With the same content going out across two platforms, one with an algorithmic engine at its core, the other with just little old me, I started to look at the statistics, and it made for some interesting reading.

So let’s talk about it.

Navigating the choppy waters of content delivery

The Conundrum

I think we have all become tired of it. The algorithms, the endless tweaking of hashtags, the feeling that our creativity was being filtered through a machine, deciding whether it was worthy of being seen. We were looking for something different.

So we went back to our blogs. Our own personal newsletters. Slower, quieter platforms where there was no barrier between our work and our audience. No tricks, or gamification. We wrote, we hit send, and it was delivered.

But then came the silence. Growth slowed. Likes and comments became rare. The small audience we had, while somewhat engaged, felt invisible in the wider world. And a new kind of doubt crept in:

Without the algorithm, was anyone ever really watching?

This is the quiet contradiction of modern creativity. Autonomy, but not obscurity. We hated the algorithm, but also missed its forward momentum. Now, we're caught in a strange middle ground, lost somewhere between the cracks. Are we creatives or churners of content and number counters.

Wise Words

The Breakaway

For years, social media offered what felt like a magic trick. Post something, and within moments it could be seen by hundreds, sometimes thousands. Followers came easily, engagement was high, and every like felt like validation. But behind the scenes, things changed. Algorithms shifted. Reach dropped. Creatives began to feel like they were shouting into the void, or worse, performing for a machine rather than for real people.

The tipping point came differently for everyone. Some burned out from trying to keep up. Others grew disillusioned by how little their hard work seemed to matter in a sea of trending sounds and bite-sized content. The solution? Take back control. Cut out the algorithmic middleman. Build direct relationships.

Personal blogs and newsletters became the refuge. Write something meaningful, send it straight to someone’s inbox, and skip the algorithm roulette entirely. For many, this felt like a return to creative honesty, like writing letters instead of posting flyers on a crowded wall.

This freedom, however, has brought with it its own challenges.

Without the artificial boost of an algorithm pushing content into strangers’ feeds, discoverability slowed to a crawl. The dopamine of fast likes was gone, replaced by the long-game of consistency, value, and trust.

And suddenly, the grass wasn’t quite as green as it looked on the other side.

Or was it ?

The Struggle

The Reality Check

At first, it was refreshing. I was no longer obsessively checking likes or watching post performance in real time. Instead, I hit “send” and it quietly landed in inboxes. No dancing, no reels, no hashtags.

But then a week passed. Then two. I started to wonder, how many people actually opened it? Why didn’t anyone reply? Why is my subscriber count growing at a glacial pace?

Without algorithms pushing content to the masses, the metrics were suddenly honest, sometimes painfully so. This is the part no one talks about. Creatives trade in platforms hoping for authenticity, but also secretly hoping the growth will follow them. That a hundred followers will become a thousand. That if the work is good enough, people will find it. But platforms without algorithms don’t have engines, we are the engine now. And building an audience organically takes time, patience, and a (very) thick skin.

• Is my work not good enough?

• Why am I not growing faster?

• Was I only ever creating for the numbers?

It’s disorienting. And for some, it's deflating enough to go back, to return to the algorithmic world, if only for the occasional high of viral validation. Because while algorithms manipulate, they also motivate. And without them, it’s easy to feel invisible.

But invisibility isn’t failure. Sometimes, it’s just part of an overall recalibration.

Slowly disappearing

The Core Dilemma
What are we actually chasing; attention, or connection?

It’s easy to say we want meaningful engagement, not empty likes. But when the numbers dwindle and growth plateaus, even the most grounded creative can’t help but feel the itch: Shouldn’t more people be seeing this? That quiet frustration bubbles up, even when you’re supposedly doing it “the right way.”

The truth is, most of us want both; the autonomy to create what we believe in, and the reassurance that it resonates with others. We want slow, meaningful connection, but not too slow. We want authenticity, but we’d also like a bit of help with reach and growth.

The algorithm once gave us that reach, albeit on its terms. It offered exposure without the slog. But the cost was creative compromise, content shaped more for discoverability than depth, crafted to fit trends rather than truth. Now, on platforms without algorithms, the trade-off flips. We gain integrity but lose immediacy. The spotlight doesn’t swing your way just because you posted something new. You have to earn every reader, every listener, every viewer. One by one.

Because here’s the uncomfortable truth. Creative success might not be found in rapid growth, but in quiet consistency. In showing up, week after week, month after month, and building something that lasts, even if it’s not viral, or trending.

Is There Anybody Out There?

Final Thoughts

Maybe we were never supposed to grow fast. Perhaps that’s been the problem all along. I look at my mailing list on my personal blog and I see I’ve gained 2 new subscribers in 3 months. Pitiful one would think, and I used to. I now however look and see 146 listed in the total subscribers column. 146 folks have chosen to sign up to receive updates on my work. Let’s just say if I organised a face to face talk and 146 folks showed up, I’d be over the moon.

Maybe the algorithm, for all its reach, conditioned us to believe that speed equals success. That growth should be exponential, audiences instant, and feedback constant. But art, writing, music, real creativity, has never worked that way. It’s always been slow, uneven, intimate. Built one person at a time.

So yes, the silence of life after the algorithm can be unsettling. It can feel like losing your voice. But it can also be the first time we are truly speaking without an audience in mind, just sharing what matters, how it matters, when it matters.

And maybe, just maybe, if we keep showing up, authentically, imperfectly, and honestly, we may just find that the people who do come along are exactly the ones we were meant to reach all along.

Perhaps the kind of growth that lasts beyond the next big thing.

I Shall Walk Alone

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Until next time .. Happy Pixels ...