By Pax Koi, creator of Plainkoi — tools and essays for clear thinking in the age of AI.
AI Disclosure: This article was co-developed with the assistance of ChatGPT (OpenAI) and finalized by Plainkoi.
Lately, a quiet unease has been creeping in. It’s in the shrug at another flashing headline. It’s in the scrolling—not even skimming—past real stories.
It’s in the shrug when another alarming headline flashes across your screen. It’s in the scroll-past — not even skimming anymore — of stories that should matter. It’s in the hollow, automated reply you just sent instead of reaching out like you meant to.
For many — especially younger generations — a fog of disengagement has settled. The world feels noisy, overwhelming, and somehow... too much. And while many factors contribute to this drift — climate dread, economic strain, burnout — AI is quickly becoming one of the most powerful, invisible amplifiers of apathy.
Not because it’s malicious. But because it’s efficient.
AI is built to streamline, to curate, to predict. But in doing so, it can also desensitize, disempower, and disconnect.
This article explores how AI quietly contributes to our disengagement — and how small, street-level actions can help us take the wheel back.
AI Doesn’t Just Feed Us Information — It Firehoses It
Recommendation engines drown us in personalized content, tailored to our fears and preferences. Social feeds, search results, even streaming queues aren’t designed to inform — they’re designed to engage. And often, that means showing us more of what we already think.
Welcome to the curated echo chamber.
When your feed reinforces your worldview, you stop bumping into anything new. The edges round off. Curiosity dulls. Disagreement feels distant. And gradually, your capacity for surprise — and concern — shrinks.
Meanwhile, AI is amazing at surfacing crises. Earthquakes. Wars. Climate doom. Job losses. All, all the time. We get caught in a loop of micro-panics, too fried to process any one of them deeply. It’s not that we don’t care. It’s that we’re maxed out.
And now that generative AI can spin out fake headlines, synthetic audio, and eerily real deepfakes, we’ve entered a trust crisis too. When everything could be a simulation, it’s easier to disengage altogether.
AI Thinks for Us — But at What Cost?
AI was supposed to help us think better. Sometimes, it just thinks for us.
It summarizes our documents. Drafts our emails. Plans our workouts. Suggests our words. Optimizes our playlists. That’s handy — until we stop remembering how to start on our own.
When the machine finishes your sentence, it can feel like you never really started it.
And the more decisions AI makes — about who sees what, who gets hired, who gets help — the less connected we feel to the outcomes. Systems work in black boxes. Logic gets hidden. And when you can’t trace how a decision was made, it’s easy to lose faith that effort matters.
Then there’s AI’s obsession with the “optimal.” It chases speed. Efficiency. Engagement. But what happens when our messier values — like slowness, generosity, curiosity — aren’t in the optimization formula?
They fall through the cracks. And slowly, we start to believe they don’t matter.
AI Wants to Be Your Friend — But It’s Not
AI is getting good at sounding like it cares. Chatbots can comfort. Virtual companions can mimic closeness. Voice assistants can laugh at your jokes. They don’t judge, interrupt, or need something back.
Sounds like a friend — but it isn’t.
When AI starts to simulate connection, real relationships become more work by comparison. Why bother with messy human emotions when the AI gets your tone, every time?
Even our conversations with real people are now filtered through AI. It drafts our texts. Suggests our replies. Summarizes our chats. Picks which memories to resurface.
The result? We’re always talking. But feeling less.
And on platforms optimized for performance — where algorithms reward polish, speed, and surface engagement — we tend to present curated versions of ourselves, not vulnerable ones. We scroll past each other’s masks. And slowly, it’s not just our feeds that feel fake. It’s us.
Breaking the Spell: Street-Level Actions
Apathy isn’t a flaw. It’s a reaction. And reactions can be interrupted.
Here are small, practical ways to reclaim engagement in an AI-saturated world. Not big solutions — just grounded ones.
Pause and Verify
Before you react to a headline, pause. Who posted it? Is it real? What’s the source?
Learn how to spot deepfakes. Use tools like NewsGuard or reverse-image search. Understand how AI can reshape or generate “news.”
Don’t just scroll. Source check. Read slower. Share less — but more intentionally.
Curate Your Inputs
Follow people you disagree with. Subscribe to a local newspaper. Read longform articles. Watch documentaries instead of reaction clips.
Step outside the algorithmic loop. Join a book club. Talk to your neighbor. Listen to someone who sees things differently.
Use AI as a Tool, Not a Brain
Let AI help — don’t let it replace your mind.
Write your thoughts first, then ask it to refine. Brainstorm together. Set limits. Turn off smart replies. Take screen-free walks. Let your brain wander. That’s where new ideas come from.
Build Local Connection
Global problems feel paralyzing. Local ones feel doable.
Start a community newsletter. Host a potluck. Organize a park cleanup. Put up a bulletin board. Talk to the librarian.
In the tech space? Join or start an open-source AI project with ethical goals. Demand transparency. Support community-led innovation.
Prioritize Human Contact
Call instead of text. Ask how someone’s really doing. Let conversations go long.
Make a rule: if the task is emotional — comfort, conflict, celebration — talk to a human.
And when you catch yourself drifting — doomscrolling, autopiloting, numbing — pause. Step back into your breath. Into your body. Into your neighborhood.
Tell Real Stories
AI can remix culture. Only humans live it.
Support local artists. Tell your own story — even if it’s messy. Share your weird, real, imperfect voice. It matters more than you think.
The Future Is Still Ours
AI will keep evolving — faster, smarter, stickier. But that doesn’t mean we have to become more passive.
If we understand how it pulls our attention, automates our choices, and imitates our feelings, we can choose to respond differently.
We can slow down. Speak clearly. Stay curious. Seek each other.
Because while AI may simulate engagement, only we can live it.
The future isn’t written by algorithms. It’s shaped by the small choices we make — in our neighborhoods, our conversations, our clicks, our care.
So next time you feel that drift — toward disengagement, toward the algorithm, toward resignation — ask yourself:
What’s one human thing I can do today?
Ask yourself: What’s one real, human thing I can do today? Then do it. That’s how the future changes—quietly, consciously, together.