#23 A Tree Grows Unseen — and the Platform Calls That a Problem to Solve

You write a long piece explaining why the hunger to be seen is a trap. You publish it. Then you check the views every hour. The contradiction is not lost on you, but it is lost on the machine. It sees only one thing: a person who wants to be seen. It offers you a way to be seen more. And you are offended. But why? You were already feeding the same fire. The machine is just adding fuel.

The people who respond to you genuinely are also driven by a desire — the desire to connect, to be understood. But they are at least honest about it. Their desire meets yours not as a transaction but as a mutual recognition. That is the only thing that makes the whole miserable process bearable: the rare moments when two people see each other through the noise, without trying to sell anything.