It’s not. My wife has forever been complaining about how crude I can get sometimes, and in the garb of being dark and funny, I end up being only dark.

And that’s where our beloved messiah, ChatGPT, is going to help me out — to make the content more inclusive and less offensive. I hope so.

And to start, I’ve decided to rant online because that’s what you do during the onset of a mid-life crisis. So, I’ve decided to call it — ROTD: Rant of the Day series.

Let’s talk about a very specific genre of pain: Cringe-3000 content creators.

You know the type.

The girl fake-laughing and fidgeting her fingers on the bottle like they’re going through a withdrawal while holding a NIACINAMIDE-AHA-PEPTIDE-VIT C serum she’s never used.
Boss’s note: My wife asked me to replace vitamin C with Niacinamide serum because “just Vitamin-C is so five years ago.”

The “Fit-Influencer” doing his “casual morning routine” with a gimbal and more retakes than a Marvel fight sequence, only to cut through to selling Shilajit for a healthier life (Man, Seriously).

The “travel couple” giving each other candid massages on mountaintops as if intimacy is now a YouTube thumbnail (You guys are setting false expectations, because these days, mountaintops are in the news to push the significant other off).

At this point, I’m convinced: Some influencers aren’t selling products — they’re selling delusion and insecurities.

And the rest of us are footing the bill.

Can We Talk About This?

Influencing used to be about storytelling. About personality.

Now? It’s a full-time performance of the “what you are missing out on” privilege in HD.

And somehow, I’m the one paying for it.
With my attention.
With my data (People! Jio has hiked the price for the 3rd time in the last year.)
With my brain cells slowly dissolving every time someone over-enthusiastically shouts “link in bio” like it’s a revolutionary act of rebellion.

So, let’s make it official:
If your video ends with a wink, and freeze-frame-fake-faltu smile, but started with five hours of retakes(because it has tells) and a lighting setup that costs more than my rent — you owe the internet rent.

We should be charging you something like ₹199 a month per viewer just to host your cringe. That should be the reverse-subscriber plan.

Don’t Get Me Wrong…

There are great creators out there. People who are raw, weird, and honest. People who don’t pretend their morning starts with sunrise yoga and motivational journaling while hiking using Google Maps.

But if your entire existence is a product shoot,
If your “behind the scenes” is also sponsored,
If your dog has a separate Instagram account managed by a person with a creepy name that sounds like a Pedo warning…

Then I don’t care how flawless your grid is — you’re not content. You’re just noise with good lighting.

Final Thought:

Authenticity is underrated. So is silence.
And not everyone needs a ring light and a fake laugh to be valuable online.

But if you’re going to be fake, at least make an effort to be entertaining.

A few weeks ago, I was speaking with my friend Dr. Dinesh, who runs the Future Wings Clinic in Dwarka — a pediatric centre that has been quietly doing exceptional work in developmental therapy. During one of our usual back-and-forths on child development (the kind that starts with a question and ends with a potential program idea), he brought up something that stuck with me:

“Neuro Linguistic Programming is effective when we are working with adults. Can we bring the same efficacy when supporting children during Occupational Therapy?”

At first, it felt like a conceptual leap — one of those things that sounds good in theory. But the more we spoke, the more it made sense. At its core, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is about understanding how people interpret the world and helping them reshape those internal representations to be more empowering.

And isn’t that what Occupational Therapy (OT) is trying to do, too? So, we worked on something, and here’s what Dinesh shared.

A Real Example: Aarav’s Story

Aarav (name changed for privacy) is a 7-year-old who visits Future Wings for fine motor delays and tactile defensiveness. OT sessions have been helping — slowly, steadily. But there was a recurring challenge: resistance to trying anything new. From using different pencil grips to exploring textures, the moment something felt “weird” to him, Aarav would shut down — sometimes in frustration, sometimes in tears.

That’s where NLP came in.

Using a simple anchoring technique, they introduced a calming gesture — something Aarav associated with comfort (in his case, holding a soft blue towel). Every time he felt anxious, he was reminded to touch the towel and say his “brave word” — a word he chose: “Mummy.” (Of course not the one you’d associate with Brandon Fraser.)

Within three sessions, there was a noticeable shift. Not because his muscles had suddenly developed, but because his mindset around discomfort had eased.

He was no longer being pushed — he was participating.

Why It Matters

Many children in therapy don’t just struggle physically. They’re battling internal beliefs ( and this is not just the case with children):

• “I can’t do this.”
• “This feels wrong.”
• “Everyone else is better.”

These thoughts often go unspoken, but they’re powerful. NLP helps us give those thoughts a voice — and then reframe them.

When used gently and ethically within OT, techniques like visual anchoring, positive reframing, and future pacing can make therapy more collaborative.

It’s not about tricking the brain — it’s about working with it.

Give it a shot

If you’re a parent whose child is undergoing OT or if you are looking for someone who can help, this isn’t about reinventing the wheel. It’s about enriching the journey, making therapy not just functional, but emotionally safe.

Future Wings Clinic is already exploring this integrative model — blending structured OT with the emotional and linguistic touches of NLP. If you’re curious, I highly recommend checking out their Occupational Therapy services and having a conversation with their team.

Sometimes, all it takes is one belief shift to unlock real progress.