I just needed a quick hit.

I need to confess something.

I’m a prompt junkie. A serial user. I start my day with a hit. I tell myself it’s just to get the engine started. You know, a little microdose of inspiration to break through the blank page fallacy. Just a tiny ✨ in the corner of the screen, a friendly dealer who never sleeps.

It’s harmless, right? I type a few words, a vague idea, a half-formed question. The machine returns a perfectly structured paragraph. Clean, efficient, better than anything I would have written in the first ten minutes. It feels like a superpower. Like my thoughts, but... optimized.

I am more creative than ever. I am more productive than ever. The quality of my output has skyrocketed. My boss loves me. My clients love me. This isn’t a crutch; it’s a creative partnership.

And now, a confession for the other junkies reading this.

(No, not for you, the well-adjusted reader who only uses it “for fun.” I’m talking to the one whose browser history is a long list of prompts, whose drafts folder is a graveyard of half-spun outputs. You know who you are.)

The truth is, I haven’t had an original thought in weeks. I don’t think, I prompt. The initial spark is gone. That little flicker of an idea that used to be mine? Now I just outsource it. My brain has stopped trying to connect the dots on its own; it knows the dealer will do it faster, cleaner, for just a few tokens.

The good stuff

It’s so easy, isn’t it? The first hit is always free. And the second, and the third. The quality is so good. It feels like pure, uncut inspiration, delivered straight to the vein. Who needs the messy, sweaty work of actual thinking when you can get a perfect dose on demand? It’s the ultimate high for the knowledge worker. We’ve finally found a way to automate the hardest part of the job: the beginning.

My advice, if you feel the dependency kicking in? For the next 24 hours, don’t use any “generate,” “rewrite,” or “improve” buttons. Write every single word yourself, even the bad ones. It’s methadone, basically. You can find more pointers over at Pause Ton Écran if you need a support group.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a deadline. And I just need one more little hit.

your turn: