A , Loud Noise
It was a Saturday. I was out with my baby girl and my mom, wandering the city like we do. We found a brunch spot, ordered pancakes, and sat down for a quiet moment together. But to my right, three people were deep into a conversation about AI and the job market. Behind me, two men were trading opinions on their favorite AI tools, like they were swapping reviews of the newest spot in town. I glanced at my phone. Three AI newsletters were sitting in my inbox, waiting for me with clickbait headlines promising better productivity and smarter career moves. This is just a regular day in my life. I’m a machine learning engineer, so I can’t pretend this wave isn’t real. I need to keep up. That’s part of the job, right?
Still, I’m anxious. Very anxious.
Drowning in Trends
It’s not just the speed of new tools or the nonstop noise. It’s the feeling that everyone has something to say about AI now. Some are chasing trends. Others are selling courses. Some are just making noise for the algorithm. I’ve seen conversations swing wildly from prompt engineering to multi-agent systems to whatever’s hot this week. Every time I try to catch up, the finish line moves.
A few years ago, I was writing a post about RNNs, LSTMs, and Transformers. I never published it. I kept rewriting it because the landscape kept changing. That pattern hasn’t stopped. I read. I listen. I try to learn. But I don’t reflect like I used to. I don’t think as deeply. I’m collecting too much and making too little.
Even the healthy habits are hard to keep. I’ve tried avoiding short-form dopamine traps like TikTok, but it doesn’t matter. I pick up my phone constantly, for work messages, daycare photos, endless two-factor authentication codes. The device that keeps me plugged in also keeps me scattered. I scroll. I skim. My attention span feels like it’s been chewed up and spit out by the feed.
I’m not learning like I used to. I’m not creating like I want to.
The Personal Filter
What’s worse is that I started to feel like I was losing my own voice. AI podcasts, Twitter threads, newsletters … they all talk at you. It’s easy to forget you don’t have to absorb everything. You don’t have to adopt every opinion. Sometimes, the noise tricks you into thinking you know more than you do. But it’s not real understanding. It’s just another kind of scrolling like AI-flavored TikToks or YouTube Shorts dressed up as insight. They don’t come from you. They drain you.
Maybe I’m being harsh. But I say this because I know myself: I rarely pause to reflect on what I’ve consumed. And without that pause, nothing sticks. Nothing grows.
Over time, I’ve come to believe that one of the most radical things you can do in the AI age is to think for yourself. Set your own benchmark for what “good” AI means. Decide what matters to you. Build a personal filter, not to block out the noise entirely, but to protect the part of you that thinks, that questions, that reflects.
When I write, even just a blog post like this, it helps. Putting thoughts into words makes them real. And when they’re real, I can shape and reuse them. I can start to make sense of what’s happening around me. That’s how I protect my focus. That’s how I keep from drifting too far from myself.
A Little Bit of Deep Work
Lately, I’ve found myself returning to an old book: Deep Work by Cal Newport. I read it years ago, back when distractions felt simpler. I followed every tip: protect your best hours, stay offline when you can, focus with intention. But the part that’s stayed with me most is this: it’s about thinking deeply, not just reacting quickly.
Back then, that felt like good advice. Now, in the middle of this nonstop AI storm, it feels like survival.
Rereading it today reminds me that not everything needs a response. Not every headline needs my time. Sometimes the smartest move is to step away, get quiet, and think for yourself.
So this is the plan I’m trying to follow: Write more. Think slower. Filter ruthlessly. Protect my focus like it’s the last quiet space I have.
If you’re reading this, I hope you feel permission to do the same. Share your thoughts. Build your own pace. Don’t let the rush steal your attention or your voice.
If any part of this resonated with you, I write more reflections like this in my newsletter. No noise, no spam, just honest thoughts as I try to make sense of the AI age. You’re more than welcome to join me there.