Whatever happened to offline reputation? In my opinion, real ultimate power comes from using social media to boost ideas rather than oneself... you have to assemble yourself a "following" in the offline sense if you want to be successful in life, the universe, and everything.

Once you're "cool", once you've had your moment of applause (or if you really pull it off, once you've had your name chanted over and over by a crowd)... then the sky (or the stars) is the limit.

How do you become cool?

I can't give you a FAQ or walkthrough, but whether your passions lie in art or science focusing on your passions and sharing what you come up with seems to be a core component.

I'd focus on following your passions OP, the time you save not scrolling Reddit or whatever will pay off in spades when you have some project or artwork you've created.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results OP... focus on being your authentic self, focus on being productive and not just doomscrolling, and I suspect eventually good things will come, because your following you've built up offline will boost you when you decide to make that leap onto social media.