I ended 2025 with huge motivation to improve my technical skills, build apps and share them publicly. I bought courses, noted down app ideas and started working on them.
Then came the Christmas period and I thought it would be a good idea to take a short holiday and come back recharged. 2026 will be my year, I told myself. And I did come back recharged, but something felt off.
I didn't have the motivation anymore. I felt burned out. It felt like none of my ideas were worth implementing. It also felt like it was a waste of time spending energy improving my skills.
You see... since I was on holiday and didn't work on Documenso, I ended up wasting time on social media. Before that, I had cut my social media usage to almost zero. I used to check it very rarely and only post through scheduling apps. But spending more time on it again reminded me why I barely used it towards the end of 2025. Ever since AI exploded, it feels like people lost their minds.
All I see on social media is how AI can replace everything.
Developers? They're gone.
SaaS? It's gone.
Courses? They're gone.
Thinking? It's gone.
Artists? They're gone.
You name it, and it's gone. AI can do everything and replace anyone and anything. Why bother doing something when AI can do it better?
And it's not AI that's the problem. It's the people.
They all repeat the same lore like a broken record. Their posts show fake demos, charts, and results. Ask for real proof, and it's crickets. It's always "someone will steal my idea if I show it", "I don't need to prove it to you" and other similar excuses.
I know very well that they lie for social media clout or to funnel people to their AI courses.
My real problem is that people fall for it and engage with those posts. Even if the replies are sarcastic, they still get what they want - engagement. That only makes the posts more popular and encourages others to do the same thing. Worst of all is that you see CEOs and employees of huge companies doing the same. People who you would expect to be more rational and honest.
As a result, the constant exposure to this circus had a negative effect on my mental wellbeing. So negative that I stopped doing anything that involved a computer. I felt a huge repulsion just opening my laptop, let alone working on something. I abandoned my projects, site, YouTube channel and social media accounts.
So, I've stepped away from the "online world" and spent more time in real life. I spent time with my family, worked on our house, went to the gym and so on. That allowed me to recalibrate and think about my reactions to the current state of tech. I realized that what happens in the world is out of my control. The only things that I can control are my reactions and actions. I'll continue perfecting my skills, publishing articles and videos, and obviously learning about AI from reputable sources. If those people are right and AI will truly replace me, at least I'll vanish into irrelevancy doing things that I enjoy.
That said, I've seen other people going through a similar experience - just two examples I came across while writing this post:
- Adam from Opencode going through the "craziest" burnout he experienced in 17 years of career.
- Tea Smith is sick of AI: talking about it, hearing about it, the whole circus.
I'll close by saying that AI is useful technology and it's here to stay. I just hope that the bubble bursts soon and tech returns to a somewhat normal state where things other than AI matter again.