A Crisis In Self-Help in 2025?
Algorithm Demands and Short Attention Spans Create A Need For Quckly-Produced, Nuance-less Content.
There is a crisis brewing in the personal development community I feel.
This crisis is the loss of nuance in the content being shared, driven by shorter attention spans and the algorithms perference for quick, to-the-point, content.
If you’re not telling someone the 3 steps to resolve their anxiety, fix their insecure attachment style, or guiding them to enlightment in a 3 minute article, you’re not doing it right and risk losing your readers attention and your own succeess…
Or so they say.
The pressure on writers to adhere to the algorithm, coupled with hussle culture (which we’ll go on to), coupled with the reader’s desire to find answers QUICK, backs self-help into the corner:
The help isn’t actually that helpful, because it misses out important nuances.
I’m not saying all short-form posts are BAD, but they can be BAD.
Productivity and And The Rise of Hussle Culture
Some of the newsletters I see on a Monday morning demand action: “If you don’t feel motivated, you HAVE to show up to get the results you want” they’ll say as I’m sipping my morning coffee feeling guilty for that thing I haven’t started doing, wondering if I’m “making excuses” or if I’m a human with unique challenges that can’t be wittled down to a 1 minute call to action.
The language used is often absolute with little room for nuance, giving the author’s words a sense of credibility and authority that instills urgency in the reader that this is something they must follow.
When I see these types of articles I roll my eyes and click unsubscribe.
Maybe I just don’t like being told what to do, or maybe I’m just aware that mental health and personal growth is rarely that simple. Our problems can’t be fixed immediately, most of the time and bad habits have levels.
If we could all just do what we know we need to do, then well, there wouldn’t be a self-help industry.
We’ll talk about this in more detail when we consider informing readers vs advising them:
Informing the Individual vs Advising the Individual
I know we all want answers, especially when we’re dealing with anxieties that demand we find a solution. Trust me, I am one of those people and have been the client in my therapist’s office, frustrated that she isn’t given me the quick-fix I’m looking for:
“What do you think about that?” she says.
“Tell me about I should think!”, I think back.
“This is what I’m paying you for, right?.
Then I have to remember: They’re not here to tell me how I should think or feel — in most cases — , they’re here to give me the space to cultivate tools, perspective, and self-awareness to make my own, informed choices.
This is how we develop self-trust. Without it, we’re at risk at being influenced into hussle culture or some spiritual new aged cult where we ignore our intuition and emotions until we burn out, or worse, hand our agency over to someone who lacks the tools or intention to really help.
As a writer who tries to inform over advise, I try and stay away from using absolutes (unless I’m really sure I need too) and I’m not too fond of reading demanding language, either.
For example, whilst many of us have experienced trauma growing up, not one specific event will lead to the development of a specific problem in adulthood. We know that pain, with the right support, can be managed and healed before it becomes ingrained and long-lasting. There’s nuance to the discussion and If I said X = Y, I’d be misforming the reader, and telling them there’s something wrong with them,when maybe there isn’t.
Who am I to decide?
Even referencing scientific evidence to back up your advise isn’t enough to advise someone absolutely. Theories are deconstructed, critiqued, and the authors themselves are required to write about the limitations of their study IN THE STUDY.
This is why theories are called “theories” and not “facts”.
All of this to say, using absolutes and telling people that there is one way to do something is sometimes misleading.
It might allow you to hit the magic 2 minute mark of your story, but I think it better — for my own integrity, to share more.
What Do We Do Then?
From a writing perspective, I think it’s important for us not to sacrifice our integrity for the sake of algorithmic demands.
Are you cutting out the nuance because you’re worried a big paragraph might turn someone away? Are you sharing theories as absolutes, without mentioning that there is likely conflicting evidence to that theory?
I choose to inform my readers with as much nuanced information as I can so that they can make the decisions they feel is best appropriate for them.
From the readers perspective, we need to be conscious that we have a tendency to want quick fixes, especially in this culture where our anxiety is high and our attention span is restricted.
We should also be aware that we are an individual, with our own mind and own circumstances, that will influence any advise being given.
You’re not making excuses, you’re being real.
So, question the content you’re reading. There’s nuance to be found, even when you’re being told what is thought to be right.