20/01/2025
💬 about social media & climbing.
I recently had the opportunity to join a panel at on social media and climbing. A few talking points stood out to me that I thought I’d bring…online!
💡 External & intrinsic validation
Sharing my climbing online, I’m interested in the effect of being perceived on what motivates and validates us. For professional athletes, performing at the top brings more complex expectation, pressure & the need to retain sponsors, but even as an amateur climber, my relationship to improvement and success is surely influenced by sharing it online. Questions I don’t know the answer to but are interesting regardless: Do I want to improve because I genuinely care about improvement, or do I want to be SEEN to improve? Are my climbing experiences and goals for me alone?
💡 Is social media changing how we experience climbing?
Social media is undoubtably influencing a new wave of climbing and climbers, and it’s likely changing the way we climb in the most literal sense. Personally, I think this is a positive thing! Content reaches people who might not have otherwise found climbing and offers technical advice for those who might not have been able to access coaching. Climbing content provides a valuable resource for information, inspiration, motivation and social connection, but there’s an argument that the online climbing experience removes us from ‘the real thing’. How many of us have thought “what I’m doing right now will make a good post later”? If our climbing experiences become “content opportunities” does it damage our ability to truly enjoy them, shift where our focus is, how proud we feel, our ability to evaluate risk or even what we choose to climb? Does it matter?
(continued in the comments)
