A new AI model dropped last week.
Twitter exploded LinkedIn was a wall of hot takes My feed filled up with this changes everything and the future is here and seventeen threads about what it means for developers.
I opened the announcement Scrolled for thirty seconds Closed the tab Went back to work.
That's it That was my entire reaction.
A few Months ago I would have read every word Watched every demo Tried it the same day Stayed up late experimenting with it Woken up the next morning still thinking about it.
Now I feel tired.
Not because the tool isn't interesting Not because I've stopped caring about the industry Because there's always another one And another one And another one after that.
The excitement didn't disappear overnight It got worn down One release at a time One must-learn framework at a time One firehose of announcements at a time.
I used to get excited about new tools Now I feel tired And I don't think I'm alone.
What Excitement Used to Feel Like
I remember discovering React.
Not learning it from a tutorial someone assigned me - discovering it Stumbling on a blog post at 11 PM reading it twice because I couldn't believe what I was reading, and immediately opening my editor just to see if it worked the way they said it did.
I didn't care if it was the "best" tool I didn't think about job prospects or market adoption or whether it would still be relevant in three years. I just wanted to build something with it Right then That night.
That feeling was electric The curiosity The possibility The specific sensation that there was a whole new world to explore and I was standing at the entrance.
I stayed up late reading the docs not because I had to because I wanted to know what came next I bookmarked obscure tutorials Joined Discord servers Followed the creators on Twitter and felt genuinely invested in where the thing was going.
I wasn't learning because my job required it I was learning because it was fun Because I was genuinely, enthusiastically curious.
That version of me feels like a different person now.
The Slow Erosion
It didn't happen because of one bad release or one disappointing tool It happened because of a thousand releases.
Every week, a new framework you were supposed to know about Every month, a new "game-changing" model that rewrote the rules Every quarter a new architecture pattern or paradigm or approach that you needed to understand to stay relevant.
At first I kept up Read the docs Watched the videos Tried the demos Formed opinions Shared them.
Then, I started skimming Just the headlines Just the "what's new" sections Just enough to have something to say if someone brought it up.
Then I started ignoring.
Not because the tools were bad Because there were too many Because the firehose never stopped Because keeping up stopped feeling like curiosity and started feeling like a second job I hadn't signed up for.
The industry calls this "staying current." I call it running on a treadmill that keeps getting faster while someone stands next to you explaining why you should be enjoying this.
The excitement didn't die It got buried under the weight of obligation. And somewhere along the way I stopped being able to tell the difference between something that genuinely interested me and something I was just supposed to care about.
The Moment I Noticed
A junior developer pulled me aside last month "Have you tried the new [tool]? It's actually incredible I've been up until 2 AM with it.
I hadn't Not because I was too busy I hadn't even opened the announcement.
They were excited Genuinely visibly infectiously excited The way I used to be The way that made me want to stay late and experiment and come back the next day with things to share.
I wanted to feel what they were feeling I actually tried I opened the tab Read the headline Scrolled down.
Nothing.
I closed the tab and said something like "Oh yeah, I've been meaning to look at it" Which we both knew wasn't true I knew it the moment I said it.
That's when I understood what had actually happened I wasn't tired of tools I wasn't tired of building things or learning things or caring about craft.
I was tired of keeping up Tired of the pace Tired of the expectation that genuine enthusiasm is something you can sustain indefinitely if you just care enough.
The Question I've Been Avoiding
Is this just what happens? Do we all eventually get tired of the thing we used to love?
The industry says "stay curious" "Lifelong learning" "Adapt or die" There are entire conference talks about embracing change and staying excited and treating every new tool as an opportunity.
But nobody talks about what happens when your curiosity runs out of gas Not because you're lazy or complacent or not cut out for this Because you've been running at this pace for years and you're a human being and human beings get tired.
I'm not against new tools I'm not against learning I'm genuinely not What I'm against is the unspoken expectation that you have to be excited about every single one That enthusiasm is a professional obligation That feeling tired means something is wrong with you.
Sometimes I just want to do my job Build things Solve problems with the tools I already know Without having to learn a new paradigm every three months just to stay considered relevant.
Maybe that's not laziness Maybe that's not burnout Maybe that's just being human in an industry that has forgotten to leave room for being human.
Small Things I'm Trying
I'm not quitting new tools I'm not logging off from the industry or pretending nothing is interesting anymore.
But I'm changing my relationship with the pace:
I don't have to be excited. Curious is enough Skeptical is legitimate Even I'm aware this exists counts Excitement isn't required as a minimum viable response to every announcement.
I wait now. I don't try something the day it drops If it matters, it'll still be there next week Next month The tools that are actually worth learning tend to stick around long enough for the dust to settle The ones that don't weren't worth the urgency.
I ask one question before I click: Does this solve a problem I actually have? Not is this trending? Not is everyone talking about this? Just do I have a problem that this would genuinely help with?
I give myself permission to ignore things. Not everything is for me Not every release needs my attention Not every thread requires my opinion That's not falling behind That's filtering And filtering is a skill, not a failure.
Will this bring back the excitement? I honestly don't know Maybe the electric, stay-up-late, tell-everyone feeling is something that only happens a few times in a career Maybe that's fine.
But it's better than feeling tired about yet another thing I'm supposed to care about.
One Question Before You Go
When was the last time you felt genuinely excited about a new tool?
Not this is useful Not I should probably learn this Not everyone seems to think this is a big deal.
Genuinely spontaneously can't-wait-to-try-it excited.
If it was recent - tell me what it was I want to know what still cuts through.
If you have to think about it for a while - you're not alone.
I'll go first in the comments.
Your turn. 👇