We are all shaped and affected by the cultures in which we live. These cultures influence our values, assumptions, and beliefs.
Technology has shrunk the time and space between us, flooding us with information, news, and voices at a relentless pace.
Marketing now shapes nearly everything we encounter. Our perceptions and beliefs often come at the expense of truth. As such, critical thinking and gut instinct are important skills to nurture, as dishonest tactics ripple through all levels of society in service of a one-dimensional, hyper-individualistic definition of success.
We need to slow down and turn down the volume. At the same time, the pace and hype of productivity culture instil a fear of being left behind. Modern marketing is often designed to make us feel isolated and as if we are missing out on something everyone else is in on. Mixed with precarious socio-economic conditions, we are more likely to reach for quick fixes that don't serve us in the long term.
The question we explore here is how we can create the space between the stimulus and the response so that we can make less reactive choices that serve rather than sabotage the future we are creating collaboratively as a culture.
Self-Help Industry
At the start of 2025, I fell down a rabbit hole, which took me in an unexpected direction. Self‑help influencer Mel Robbins had dishonestly claimed ownership of "The Let Them Theory". Reading her book, I could see the mechanics beneath the whole genre: individual solutions to collective problems and a troubling imperative towards Constant and Never‑Ending Improvement (CANI).
Influencers preach the need for, and promise the solution to, optimisation, productivity, and balance, all of which, by design, remain a mirage on the horizon. Believable, but unreachable.
Here, I examine popular books and authors, asking how we might explore creative growth and the joy of learning without falling into the trap laid by the Self‑Help Industrial Complex.
Tech & Algorithms
Technology has a way of slipping from tool to trap when there is power or money to be extracted. Subscriptions are increasingly locking us into systems we rely on for everyday essentials, making them hard to leave. We're told that if we don't adopt AI, we will be left behind.
These tools have become vehicles for deceiving users, selling get-rich-quick fantasies, and shaping what we believe about ourselves and others. Algorithms influence our perception of what is normal, desirable, and true.
How did we end up here, and can we formulate a more meaningful and sustainable vision that incorporates the amazing human ingenuity and imagination that goes into this stuff while also serving humanity as a whole?
Cultural Currents
Trends, stories, and beliefs rise and fall. What are we paying attention to? What is changing in the landscapes we move through together? Are they taking us where we want to go? We explore the effect of the cultural flows on who we are and how we think about ourselves.
Burnout Society
Are you worn out by the pressure to be useful? Productivity has become a moral value, as if it is a higher good. The fear of wasting time has shaped every activity and endeavour, including the sacred human spaces that foster depth in relationships, art, and leisure.
This achievement age demands that we seek happiness and self‑worth by hustling harder and instrumentalising joy. But the harder we push ourselves, the further we fall from those desired states of being. So, how can we say "no" to this without simply replacing one failed approach with another?
Stories of Gentle Rebellion
I love having conversations with people who are gently rebelling against the cultural norms that keep us stuck. Those who see that the quest for perfect optimisation, productivity, and balance is what sustains this impossible dream. Those who see that happiness is not lurking beyond the horizon, but is found close in. Here. Now. In fleeting moments. In connection and chaos.
I am much more interested in the question of how we live as imperfect, messy human beings in a world we can never do or be enough for. How do we make peace with contradiction rather than chasing an impossible perfection? How do we make life work in communities of people who see things differently?
I am always looking for stories that give us something real, familiar, and human.
