Chasing Approval
Lately, I’ve noticed a growing trend in engineering, tech, and design spaces: an obsession with approval. A lot of people are chasing validation, mimicking others, and shaping our work around what will get noticed instead of what we genuinely care about.
On the surface, it could just be people engagement farming, but beneath that, it’s quietly reshaping our culture. When the metric for success is approval, originality gets sidelined.
People stop experimenting. Instead of exploring new ideas, we copy the styles, frameworks, or opinions of those who already have status. It's also why we see so many of the exact same products over and over again.
This also results in a cycle of idolization. It makes genuine growth feel out of reach, especially for those still finding their footing.
Maybe the challenge for all of us is to pause and ask: am I doing this because it’s true to me, or because I hope it gets noticed? If we chose the first more often, I think we’d see a space with less posturing, more originality, and far richer ideas.
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