Looks like we got ourselves a classic case of writer’s existential dread, brought to you live from the mean streets of Substack, where the number-one fear ain't failure, it’s not being smart enough for the cool kids’ table. You got seasoned blog veterans missing the Wild West days of WordPress, Tumblr, and whatever dark corners of the internet we all used to overshare on before the algorithm overlords took over. Now, everybody’s staring at the blank page, paralyzed by the idea that their thoughts might not be deep enough.
"This whole "Substack is an echo chamber of intellectual posturing" thing, well, yeah. Every platform eventually fills up with people trying to sound smarter than they are. Welcome to the human condition. But guess what? You don’t have to participate. You don’t have to play Thought Olympics against some 23-year-old with a degree in Existential Crisis Studies. Just write what you want. The good thing about Substack? Nobody’s stopping you.
And let’s talk about this “I’m too self-conscious to post” epidemic in the comments. People saying they sat on their first post for a YEAR? That’s not a writing problem that’s an overthinking problem. You’re not submitting your work to be enshrined in the Library of Congress. You’re not drafting the next Magna Carta. If the pressure’s too much, you might just be taking this a tad too seriously.
Every platform these days is engineered to make us feel like we’re performing for some invisible panel of judges. But back in the day, when you were cranking out three blog posts a day you didn’t care who was watching. You just did it. And that’s the key. Stop worrying about what will “do well” and just do well by yourself.
If you wanna write like you’re 15 again, then do it. Write like nobody's reading. Hell, maybe nobody is reading. That’s freedom! That means you can say whatever you want, however you want, whenever you want. You don’t need Substack to hand you a warm, fuzzy community.
Came here to say more or less the same thing. Yes, Substack has all those problems, as does our current internet in general, and they’re different problems from the ones we had here fifteen years ago. But it’s also on us to use platforms and tools how we see fit. It won’t fix everything, of course, but it’ll at least make life easier for us individually, and that’s not nothing. Write like no one’s watching and don’t be too sad if it turns out no one is.
I do. I specialize in creative anime fiction. (when I’m not blowing up over political, quality-of-life dystopia)… Nobody cares about it.
The other day, I wrote a completely unhinged piece, strewn with humor, some of it.. considered dirty. It was the most fun I’ve had in about a month. Now I need to sit down and actually work on that piece more, fill it up, expand it, make it into an actual fiction.
I feel the excitement, the creative juices flowing! And I’m half dead dealing with a rotten tooth and lack of sleep.
Writing like you’re 15, is probably some of the best advice I’ve read in a while. Thank you!
Yeah, I was thinking the same—we grew up in the same era. I had online journals on a bunch of platforms too. But why not have both a personal site and Substack? Each has its place. The real problem isn’t Substack—it’s social media and the obsession with analytics. Time to ditch that and just write. Honestly, I’ve met more solid people here than anywhere else. Keep going!
Exactly this! I do my best writing when I feel like I'm sending it into the abyss. Try writing offline rather than opening a draft in Substack - sometimes just the shift away from the screen can make it easier to say what you want to say
Same. I feel self conscious on here and took forever to publish my first post because I was afraid of not having anything important enough to say (when all I really want is to read and write about books and personal experiences - not quite meaning of life stuff). We don’t all have to be philosophers.
Best thing you can do is just write regardless of what others think. That’s what I’m doing anyway, purely for the joy of writing and collecting my own thoughts
I don’t think the echo chamber is limited to 20-somethings. I’m trying hard to curate my incoming feed on here, so I’m extra critical. I see one person have an interesting take on something, then others regurgitate it. They are academics and “professionals”. It’s fine and good when it’s a dialogue on a topic but more often I don’t see any acknowledgement of the original author, it’s put forth as their own brilliance and then praised like it is.
You are not seeing or reading where there is good writing because you stay in some kind of echo chamber the algorithm creates for you. We are out here. I have not a single piece like what you describe in my feed. I run out of time every day to read the amount of extraordinary vision and clarity, and content of value on here.
AND I have made an incredible network of international friends who are enthusiastic enough to create an international educational forum based upon knowledge sharing.
Yes, absolutely agree! I follow a lot of art and whenever Great Art Explained posts a video on anything I see a massive trickle down effect and no one credits him even though there's too much topical overlap to be a coincidence. I think we're so busy wanting praise that we don't praise others for fear we will lose those who have stumbled upon us by chance. A social media scarcity mindset, if you will.
This was such a fun read! Your teenage self sounds like an absolute force! I’m still new here, but I can already see how easy it is to get caught up in expectations rather than just writing for the joy of it. Love that you’re letting go of the pressure and making space for what feels right—feels like a lesson worth holding onto.
I am feeling this and definitely not saying it. It does feel like thought daughters and Joan Didion wannabes are around every corner. Then one part of me is bummed, because why can't I be that? For me, I feel unworthy to even TRY to articulate an observation as a professional non-writer. I also miss the days of just churning out my brain in a way that felt good. THANK YOU. And I hope that you can shake the echo-chamber when you can.
This feels more like a self-belief that a blog by an adult needs to fit some sort of criteria of adulthood. Go back to writing your passion with abandon and it will come back to you.
As a 50+ woman coming on here to find community, I feel like you’ve summed up my whole experience here. I’m not really interested in the intellectual competition, I just wanted to find different opinions and perspectives on a variety of subjects, including books, and maybe get back into journaling more like I used to when I was in my 20s. But it doesn’t have the vibe of tumblr (I’ll have my tumblr until I die lol). Maybe it’s just me, but there’s a lot of superiority on here that I find hard to relate to.
But I do see a lot of fluff and how to grow and other types of posts. But what I’ve also found is a very queer and politically engaged community and quite a few writers that have been a joy to follow.
We are here. And we are supportive. It’s just a matter of persistence in searching for your tribe. But hi 👋
Totally agree with most of this! I signed up for Substack last year and was too paralyzed to post for fear of sounding not smart enough, or not having anything actually important to say, comparing myself to the more prolific and popular writers on this platform. This year, I decided to heck with all that! I’m just going to write what I want and not keep my posts in a perpetual “editing phase” so I have an excuse not to post. And honestly, this mindset shift has been SO freeing. I don’t care if no one reads my blog (no one is right now, lol) but I DO care about sharing what I have to say! I hope you experience something similar ❤️
This resonated with me because even though I do curate my feed and edit my followings quite often, I feel like if left unattended, my feed will fill up with some variation of the same idea.
And then, there's the Notes - I feel like the sort of "X" dynamic is distracting and unnecessary in a platform that was supposed to be more longer content/thought-inclined than dopamine boosting.
I am not a professional writer, and I use Substack as a creative outlet - a way to escape my day-to-day corporate job. But it is discouraging to think what my place actually is in this community, which sometimes leaves me feeling very self-conscious and unmotivated.
i resonate so deeply with this! i posted regularly on a blog all throughout middle school and highschool and i didn’t spend hours re-reading my drafts before i posted and no one read it and i didn’t really care ; here it sometimes just feels like another competition and i’ve never wanted to compete or convince people i’m a “thought daughter” or whatever that trend is—i just want to write whatever stupid lil thing i wanna write and be able to enjoy it the way i used to
This is so true. Some of these think pieces by people younger than me make me think. But just because it’s Substack does not mean there will be any less flow of misinformation.
same! i'm having an awful writer's block because one of my recent posts went viral, and now I'm terrified to fail or to disappoint my new subscribers. it's overwhelming!
I definitely understand that fear. I have felt it myself in my earlier years of blogging about retro games for fun. Whenever a particular article saw an uptick in comments and thumbs up (now we call it “likes”), I’d find it difficult to write my next article because I kept trying to out do myself for fear no one would read and comment on it if it was t as good as the last one.
Over the years I eventually learned to quiet that anxiety and just enjoy the creative process and worry less about whether or not it’s “good enough” to be noticed.
Such an interesting take! I’ve been on here consistently for about a month and what I see is a lot of posts about how to get more subscribers. I’m not seeing so many deep, philosophical posts. Maybe you can try to influence your algorithm to get better posts! Not that I know how but it seems like some people do. Good luck!
I also have a blog (though it has hardly any traction, because admittedly I am not great about posting on there and have no idea how blogs work in 2025). But, what I love about my blog is choosing the colors of the page and the possibilities feel endless. Substack has so much potential, yet we are also limited by its format in a way. I too feel the need to live up to the deep think pieces of other twenty something’s, when in reality sometimes all I want to do is write about Snoopy or my new favorite song! I have yet to make my first post on here because I feel like I’ll just be shouting into the void no matter what I say. But, I guess that’s sort of the risk we take as writers? lol. Anyway, I loved this piece and found it so deeply relatable <3
Looks like we got ourselves a classic case of writer’s existential dread, brought to you live from the mean streets of Substack, where the number-one fear ain't failure, it’s not being smart enough for the cool kids’ table. You got seasoned blog veterans missing the Wild West days of WordPress, Tumblr, and whatever dark corners of the internet we all used to overshare on before the algorithm overlords took over. Now, everybody’s staring at the blank page, paralyzed by the idea that their thoughts might not be deep enough.
"This whole "Substack is an echo chamber of intellectual posturing" thing, well, yeah. Every platform eventually fills up with people trying to sound smarter than they are. Welcome to the human condition. But guess what? You don’t have to participate. You don’t have to play Thought Olympics against some 23-year-old with a degree in Existential Crisis Studies. Just write what you want. The good thing about Substack? Nobody’s stopping you.
And let’s talk about this “I’m too self-conscious to post” epidemic in the comments. People saying they sat on their first post for a YEAR? That’s not a writing problem that’s an overthinking problem. You’re not submitting your work to be enshrined in the Library of Congress. You’re not drafting the next Magna Carta. If the pressure’s too much, you might just be taking this a tad too seriously.
Every platform these days is engineered to make us feel like we’re performing for some invisible panel of judges. But back in the day, when you were cranking out three blog posts a day you didn’t care who was watching. You just did it. And that’s the key. Stop worrying about what will “do well” and just do well by yourself.
If you wanna write like you’re 15 again, then do it. Write like nobody's reading. Hell, maybe nobody is reading. That’s freedom! That means you can say whatever you want, however you want, whenever you want. You don’t need Substack to hand you a warm, fuzzy community.
Hahah excellent response
Came here to say more or less the same thing. Yes, Substack has all those problems, as does our current internet in general, and they’re different problems from the ones we had here fifteen years ago. But it’s also on us to use platforms and tools how we see fit. It won’t fix everything, of course, but it’ll at least make life easier for us individually, and that’s not nothing. Write like no one’s watching and don’t be too sad if it turns out no one is.
One day I decided to make a Substack and wrote my first post within a week. Say what you want to say!!!!!1!!!1!!1!!
I beat you. Set it up in an hour and 24 hours later I made my first post. Also had to edit it three times for spelling mistakes.
“…write like you’re 15 again…”
I do. I specialize in creative anime fiction. (when I’m not blowing up over political, quality-of-life dystopia)… Nobody cares about it.
The other day, I wrote a completely unhinged piece, strewn with humor, some of it.. considered dirty. It was the most fun I’ve had in about a month. Now I need to sit down and actually work on that piece more, fill it up, expand it, make it into an actual fiction.
I feel the excitement, the creative juices flowing! And I’m half dead dealing with a rotten tooth and lack of sleep.
Writing like you’re 15, is probably some of the best advice I’ve read in a while. Thank you!
Yeah, I was thinking the same—we grew up in the same era. I had online journals on a bunch of platforms too. But why not have both a personal site and Substack? Each has its place. The real problem isn’t Substack—it’s social media and the obsession with analytics. Time to ditch that and just write. Honestly, I’ve met more solid people here than anywhere else. Keep going!
Love this take
Exactly this! I do my best writing when I feel like I'm sending it into the abyss. Try writing offline rather than opening a draft in Substack - sometimes just the shift away from the screen can make it easier to say what you want to say
Same. I feel self conscious on here and took forever to publish my first post because I was afraid of not having anything important enough to say (when all I really want is to read and write about books and personal experiences - not quite meaning of life stuff). We don’t all have to be philosophers.
God me too, every time I want to post I talk myself out of it with imposter syndrome. I thought this stuff was meant to be fun?!
You’ve got this!!! I’ve been feeling similar, imposter syndrome is a nightmare - but you can beat it 💗
omg yes I didn’t post for a year😭
how are we all experiencing the same thing my goodness
Best thing you can do is just write regardless of what others think. That’s what I’m doing anyway, purely for the joy of writing and collecting my own thoughts
I don’t think the echo chamber is limited to 20-somethings. I’m trying hard to curate my incoming feed on here, so I’m extra critical. I see one person have an interesting take on something, then others regurgitate it. They are academics and “professionals”. It’s fine and good when it’s a dialogue on a topic but more often I don’t see any acknowledgement of the original author, it’s put forth as their own brilliance and then praised like it is.
Yes! This 100%!!!
I’m on day 2 and if I see another “substack is like a message in a bottle…” hahah
😂😂😂
You are not seeing or reading where there is good writing because you stay in some kind of echo chamber the algorithm creates for you. We are out here. I have not a single piece like what you describe in my feed. I run out of time every day to read the amount of extraordinary vision and clarity, and content of value on here.
AND I have made an incredible network of international friends who are enthusiastic enough to create an international educational forum based upon knowledge sharing.
Where have you been?
Yes, absolutely agree! I follow a lot of art and whenever Great Art Explained posts a video on anything I see a massive trickle down effect and no one credits him even though there's too much topical overlap to be a coincidence. I think we're so busy wanting praise that we don't praise others for fear we will lose those who have stumbled upon us by chance. A social media scarcity mindset, if you will.
The “intellectual competition” feeling rings true for me.
This was such a fun read! Your teenage self sounds like an absolute force! I’m still new here, but I can already see how easy it is to get caught up in expectations rather than just writing for the joy of it. Love that you’re letting go of the pressure and making space for what feels right—feels like a lesson worth holding onto.
I am feeling this and definitely not saying it. It does feel like thought daughters and Joan Didion wannabes are around every corner. Then one part of me is bummed, because why can't I be that? For me, I feel unworthy to even TRY to articulate an observation as a professional non-writer. I also miss the days of just churning out my brain in a way that felt good. THANK YOU. And I hope that you can shake the echo-chamber when you can.
Thank YOU for sharing your experience. It's so nice to see we're not alone in how we feel!
This feels more like a self-belief that a blog by an adult needs to fit some sort of criteria of adulthood. Go back to writing your passion with abandon and it will come back to you.
As a 50+ woman coming on here to find community, I feel like you’ve summed up my whole experience here. I’m not really interested in the intellectual competition, I just wanted to find different opinions and perspectives on a variety of subjects, including books, and maybe get back into journaling more like I used to when I was in my 20s. But it doesn’t have the vibe of tumblr (I’ll have my tumblr until I die lol). Maybe it’s just me, but there’s a lot of superiority on here that I find hard to relate to.
I’m not going to say my age because I’m old af.
But I do see a lot of fluff and how to grow and other types of posts. But what I’ve also found is a very queer and politically engaged community and quite a few writers that have been a joy to follow.
We are here. And we are supportive. It’s just a matter of persistence in searching for your tribe. But hi 👋
Totally agree with most of this! I signed up for Substack last year and was too paralyzed to post for fear of sounding not smart enough, or not having anything actually important to say, comparing myself to the more prolific and popular writers on this platform. This year, I decided to heck with all that! I’m just going to write what I want and not keep my posts in a perpetual “editing phase” so I have an excuse not to post. And honestly, this mindset shift has been SO freeing. I don’t care if no one reads my blog (no one is right now, lol) but I DO care about sharing what I have to say! I hope you experience something similar ❤️
This resonated with me because even though I do curate my feed and edit my followings quite often, I feel like if left unattended, my feed will fill up with some variation of the same idea.
And then, there's the Notes - I feel like the sort of "X" dynamic is distracting and unnecessary in a platform that was supposed to be more longer content/thought-inclined than dopamine boosting.
I am not a professional writer, and I use Substack as a creative outlet - a way to escape my day-to-day corporate job. But it is discouraging to think what my place actually is in this community, which sometimes leaves me feeling very self-conscious and unmotivated.
i resonate so deeply with this! i posted regularly on a blog all throughout middle school and highschool and i didn’t spend hours re-reading my drafts before i posted and no one read it and i didn’t really care ; here it sometimes just feels like another competition and i’ve never wanted to compete or convince people i’m a “thought daughter” or whatever that trend is—i just want to write whatever stupid lil thing i wanna write and be able to enjoy it the way i used to
I wish we could bottle that energy and enthusiasm from our teens. Even if what we wrote wasn't great, at least we were having fun.
This is so true. Some of these think pieces by people younger than me make me think. But just because it’s Substack does not mean there will be any less flow of misinformation.
same! i'm having an awful writer's block because one of my recent posts went viral, and now I'm terrified to fail or to disappoint my new subscribers. it's overwhelming!
I definitely understand that fear. I have felt it myself in my earlier years of blogging about retro games for fun. Whenever a particular article saw an uptick in comments and thumbs up (now we call it “likes”), I’d find it difficult to write my next article because I kept trying to out do myself for fear no one would read and comment on it if it was t as good as the last one.
Over the years I eventually learned to quiet that anxiety and just enjoy the creative process and worry less about whether or not it’s “good enough” to be noticed.
yeah, i’m trying to work on that!! thanks for sharing your journey :)
Such an interesting take! I’ve been on here consistently for about a month and what I see is a lot of posts about how to get more subscribers. I’m not seeing so many deep, philosophical posts. Maybe you can try to influence your algorithm to get better posts! Not that I know how but it seems like some people do. Good luck!
I also have a blog (though it has hardly any traction, because admittedly I am not great about posting on there and have no idea how blogs work in 2025). But, what I love about my blog is choosing the colors of the page and the possibilities feel endless. Substack has so much potential, yet we are also limited by its format in a way. I too feel the need to live up to the deep think pieces of other twenty something’s, when in reality sometimes all I want to do is write about Snoopy or my new favorite song! I have yet to make my first post on here because I feel like I’ll just be shouting into the void no matter what I say. But, I guess that’s sort of the risk we take as writers? lol. Anyway, I loved this piece and found it so deeply relatable <3