Three things I'm seeing that give me hope

I spend a lot of time thinking about what’s going wrong in the world — it’s part of the job. But lately, I’ve been noticing things that make me optimistic about where we’re heading. Here are three trends that give me genuine hope.

1. The Writer’s Comeback

While everyone can write, not everyone can write well. And suddenly, the skills and patience required to do so seem to be what make it valuable.

I keep hearing about people choosing books over TikTok, writing newsletters instead of posting Instagram stories, and silent book clubs where people sit and read together.

Perhaps we’re all just tired of being manipulated by social media algorithms. Or, it’s something more profound.

Both the reader and writer represent qualities that this world seems to long for: intentional consumption, reflection, introspection, and imagination. Detaching from this world through a book or creating a new one from scratch is what we all need when reality is too much to handle.

Also, in a world where AI can generate text instantly, the slow development of your voice and ability to observe the world around you becomes a unique skill. Writing well requires you to think, to notice things, and to develop new perspectives. I feel like people are starting to value that again.

2. Cognitive Differentiation

I keep hearing this from parents of high-school and college students: the top-performing kids are deliberately avoiding AI tools that risk limiting their individual development.

Not because they're anti-technology, but because they want to develop their own thinking. One friend told me a brainy friend of his daughter had said, “I know that AI will be smarter than me, so I need to ensure I become the smartest I can be so that I can make sure I can be in charge of the technology.”

I don’t think this goes for all students. Far from. But this signal feels significant to me. These students understand something many adults haven’t figured out yet—automated execution is what will make you replaceable. Having unique cognitive abilities and perspectives is what differentiates you from a robot.

Deliberately choosing the more challenging path because we know it builds something that shortcuts can’t. In the future, that is what will set us apart.

3. Personal Responsibilities

Maybe it’s Gaza. Maybe it’s democracy backsliding around the world. Perhaps it’s just the general sense that the world is spinning out of control. But I'm seeing more conversations that ask: “How do we live good lives when everything feels broken?”

Books like Rutger Bregman’s Moral Ambition and Stephanie Harrison’s The New Happy are hitting bestseller lists because they help people understand why having everything you ever wanted is not enough to feel good.

They are providing answers and frameworks for connecting personal happiness to doing good in the world. And not the old “follow your passion” advice, but something more demanding: “use your gifts for something bigger than yourself.”

Psychologists have suggested this is the trick to personal fulfilment for years, but we have been too focused on ourselves to care.

But all of a sudden, I think people are realising that individual success in a collapsing world doesn’t feel very good. They want to know how to contribute to building something better. And when they do so, they start to feel better.

Some final thoughts

What connects all three of these trends is that people are prioritising something more complicated over convenience, depth over speed, and long-term development over short-term efficiency.

Maybe I’m seeing these things because I’m looking. But I think there’s a real reason to believe we’re building toward something better, not despite the current chaos, but because of it.