Save the world from turning into a factory!
One thing that non-writers often don’t understand about writers is that they don’t write for projection. They do it because that’s their way of making sense of the world.
Words aren’t a marketing tool for them. They’re a necessity for survival, an essential part of everyday living. They do use words to accomplish practical tasks too, but that’s always secondary. The zeal to write comes from the need to remind oneself of what one went through.
Usually, such people write some of the most honest and expressive things, filled with genuine emotion and a deep understanding of the world they inhabit. And often, such people post the least online.
They might share writing related to their work or studies, but they keep everything personal to themselves. It’s understandable. They don’t want the vulnerable parts to be exposed. They’re protecting themselves. So, they keep the logical side for the world and the emotional side for themselves.
That being said, we need more such people posting online. Even if the craft is rough, the vocabulary simple, and there’s much to learn, such people should still post online.
The online space is filled with functional content: things that help you do or achieve something. Things that make you more efficient, productive, and better equipped to navigate the practical world.
All of this is necessary. The world needs responsible, capable, learning people to function well. But understanding the inner workings of our emotional selves is just as important as making things.
We are as much emotional beings as we are functional ones.Expressing our emotions, venting our genuine thoughts, our love and hatred, our smiles and frowns, are all basic human needs. If repressed, these emotions can turn into illness. And the world seems to be forgetting this.
It doesn’t take a genius to link the growing mental health crisis, the rising disregard for emotional needs, and increasing instances of violence with a lack of genuine emotional expression.
People with emotional expression must put themselves out there to remind the world that this, too, matters. That this, too, is needed to keep us going. That emotional truth is not a luxury or a hobby, it’s a necessity for survival.
Especially today, when much of what’s written online is generated by language models, we need more and more genuine, contemporary, emotional writing to exist, so the models can learn from it and reflect something real.
That might be the only way to save ourselves and our loved ones from the mental health crisis looming over us.
That might be the only way to save the world from turning into a factory.
That might be the only way to remind everyone that writing isn’t just about putting words on paper or predicting the next best phrase. It is an act of revealing our inner emotional truth that makes us the unique people we are.