One of the strange outcomes is that when you operate with calm, determined efficiency and real focus, it can feel uncomfortable. It feels like something should be happening. It feels like something is missing. Overload becomes so normalized and even celebrated that suggesting we do less, or process less, starts to sound almost heretical.

In Han’s framing, the mechanism is that external pressure becomes internalized. People begin to define competence as the ability to handle more, respond faster, and process more context. Feedback loops reward this behavior, and over time it becomes part of identity. Tools like AI then amplify the system by making it easier to cope with overload, which raises expectations further. The result is that people don’t just experience overload, they actively sustain it, and stepping out of it starts to feel uncomfortable or even wrong.