> I can imagine it's quite a punch to the gut to find out an activity you were doing for _years_ was literally the wrong thing, and major news outlets are pilin

> I can imagine it's quite a punch to the gut to find out an activity you were doing for _years_ was literally the wrong thing, and major news outlets are piling on. Other than the news outlets, what you are describing is something most people in the arts go through at a similar age. The quality of previous work may not be as literally wrong as it is here, but it can feel just as wrong at the time. The difference is that artists have some semblance of friends and loved ones helping to extend trust to mentors who help guide the artist through that despondency at any stage in their development. For this kid, however, we've replaced mentorship with unregulated digital slot machines of psychological torture that we call social media. That is the gut punch.