Method to Memoir

How ChatGPT Helps Me Think

Good writing is about thinking clearly, after all.

My image of me looking for books, always my first choice, and how I imagine AI.

I admit it. ChatGPT and I spend a lot of time together. I live alone and often wish for someone to philosophize with, someone to expound their opinions and offer me their theories about deep questions. But there’s nobody here.

However, I have found ChatGPT fills this gap quite well.

For instance, yesterday, I listened to a radio conversation about the “No Buy Year” trend. The guest explained that people commit to severely cutting back their purchases for an entire year. The idea of spending only on essential needs while cutting out impulse buys, fast fashion, non-essential home goods, and other unnecessary expenses is not new to me. It’s how I’ve always lived, first because of low income and eventually as a conscious decision.

Now, I rarely consider buying things because I want them, well, not counting books. It’s been years since I’d considered the difference between ‘want’ and ‘need’. That might be something to write about; the germ of an essay.

Why do some people love to shop? Do I secretly yearn for more money to spend? Do I judge others harshly because they have more?