From time to time, I think I've found a digital cure for the symptoms of AI overdose, which in my opinion are: illiteracy, brain fog and the inability to make a decision. All of them fall under the umbrella of overstimulation. It seems the whole world is overstimulated by the amount of text, images, videos, and information we have access to. And while it's true that we are being fed enormous amounts of content, we also choose to consume it every day. Social software has become a drug, with billions addicted to it. I hate these symptoms of addiction. They leave us without control.
Among all of us addicts, there are also those who crave fresh, authentic substance - the result of someone's hard work and devotion. Honest work, let's call it that. Every interaction we have requires effort to become healthy, stable, and hard to break. So when everything becomes increasingly easy, it's only logical to think that it will all break at some point.
Building something substantial takes time. Am I wrong to think that since we've been accelerating progress for decades (while constantly whining about overstimulation), the time has come to appreciate how much work, time, and devotion we can put into our activities? Would it be considered a luxury to master something again? Not to be a perfect generalist, but a misunderstood specialist?
People say it's becoming harder and harder to stand out, that our abilities are leveling. I think this is only true for now, while we're still learning how to live in this new reality. But maybe not for much longer. We're given more posts, blogs, and written content than ever before and yet you can usually tell very quickly which pieces were untouched by the agentic monster (AI) and which were built from unoriginal thoughts. This is where this text comes from: an aversion to generated content posted on LinkedIn.
I like to imagine a situation where a product wins because the user genuinely benefits from having it. That's why I'm thinking about a different kind of tool. Imagine this: instead of posting pictures (the least demanding action) a person posts a description of what was in them. It puts imagination in motion, allows vocabulary to flourish, and turns the person into a writer. We would start observing, analyzing, and describing more carefully. We'd build better relationships because we'd learn how to describe what we feel, how we see, and how we experience things. This idea begins to feel like a performance.
These things already exist - they're called blogs, a skeptic might say. But there's a difference between describing an open scene and elaborating on a limited image. It requires a different kind of effort, one that benefits the person doing it, not just others. Though others might still be interested. I know I would love to read how people think, observe, and describe their experiences.
It would take courage for many to open up this much, to devote their time to describing things and allowing others to see. I find that very intimate and attractive. I want this experiment to happen. I want to meet people from this angle.
This is only an idea supporting the fight against overstimulation and the lack of attention, or on how to fight the critical thinking crisis. For me and for the rest of the world.
Thank you, until the next one.