Feedback And Criticism

Recently I watched the video of my favourite you tuber wherein he was replying to his trollers. It was one of his best videos so far. The level of maturity, patience, and eloquence through which he answered them was just indescribable.

Often in intense moments of stress and criticism, we lose our cool and get inundated by emotions. Though many claim that they are spiritually elevated, even on slight disapproval they do not hesitate to show tantrums and annoyance publically. His video initiated a thought in my mind – what is the correct way to handle feedback and criticism on any creative platform?

In order to make our work better, we look forward to feedback, so that we can improve ourselves. It works like a mirror that reflects our progress. Many content creators say that they get their new ideas from the feedback they receive from their audiences. But getting as well giving correct feedback is not as easy as it seems. Reason – most of the time our feelings make us biased either about that subject or that person. Subjectivity creeps in most of the so-called honest feedback.

There’s a significant difference between feedback and criticism. We must seek feedback from trusted people because it makes our work better. The key to getting useful feedback is to ask specific questions. If somebody asks a friend “what do you think about my dress?” The reply will be generic. Good or beautiful. But if the question would be ” Is this dress appropriate for going office? “Then the dress which looks good, maybe not a good option for office purposes. Here the feedback from the other person is more relevant and helpful.

We must avoid criticism from people who do not know anything about that matter because it obstructs the creative path and may shake our confidence. Subject experts offer an informed and refined view which mostly improves and makes things better. Whenever you create something new, you are going to be criticized. No matter how good the creation, it will be judged by others. Most criticism is merely an unsolicited opinion of personal preferences. Since one didn’t ask for it, it isn’t required to respond. One should simply move on.

This helps in not getting distracted from the real purpose of creation. This type of fearless creativity, combined with trusted feedback is crucial for progress. But if one starts responding to every troll meant to simply criticize, very soon the very purpose of creation will be lost. Criticism is inevitable whenever we expose our ideas to the world through social media or any other public platform. One should be ready for that. Of course, some criticism is beneficial like feedback from the people we respect and believe helps us grow. Other criticism like internet trolling is toxic. Because here critics project their own insecurities, prejudices, and absurdities.  if we listen to them, their toxicity affects our thinking, can make it difficult to create anything worthwhile.

So in life, we have two choices, either create and face criticism with equanimity or stay away from any creative work because of being scared and overwhelmed by unreasonable critics.