A Crypto Enthusiast's Confession of Technological Anxiety: You're Not the Only One Who Feels Left Behind
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A Crypto Enthusiast's Confession of Technological Anxiety: You're Not the Only One Who Feels Left Behind
It should be recognized that in the process of striving to explore, one is actually continuously improving oneself.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Bethany Crystal
Compiled by: TechFlow
This morning, I originally planned to write a blog post about why Halloween is the best holiday for fostering neighborhood community bonds in New York. However, when I logged into Slack, I saw my colleagues sharing their experiments with the newly launched ChatGPT search feature.
Opening Twitter, I saw similar discussions:
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"This is Google's killer."
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"This new tool changes everything."
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"It will completely transform how you use the internet."
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"Goodbye old world. Hello new era. If you can't keep up, you're already behind."
By 8:05 a.m., I had already run several small chat tests, successfully found myself on ChatGPT Search, installed its browser extension in Chrome, and set it as my default search engine, replacing Google.
Wow, that escalated quickly.
So, I decided to abandon my original article plan and instead write this piece about the new technology.
If you woke up this morning with that “oh no, here we go again…” feeling, trust me—you’re not alone. Let’s take a deep breath together and dive into this topic.
How to Avoid Falling Into the "I Can't Keep Up" Trap
Seeing such disruptive claims circulating around can indeed feel overwhelming. These seemingly massive shifts happen almost monthly, even weekly, making them hard to keep pace with.
I'm somewhat impulsive and extreme, so whenever this happens, I have to consciously resist doing either of the following two things:
Fight or flight? My two polarized instincts when facing something new
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Drop everything I’m currently working on, throw myself entirely into the new thing, rapidly onboard my entire team, immediately explore collaboration opportunities, and race ahead of competitors. This is the new world order—there’s no turning back.
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Or, completely reject the new thing, give up altogether, swear off all technology forever, radically change direction, start imagining myself living an entirely agricultural, off-grid life somewhere in northern state, while waiting for the inevitable robot apocalypse.
Overall, this reflects the common "fight or flight" mindset that new technologies often trigger. Yet, I’ve found my actual response usually lies somewhere between these extremes.
Over my 15-year career working at tech startups and venture-backed companies, I've received countless emails touting “disruptive! Unprecedented!” technologies. Unfortunately, I’m easily influenced by visionary builders and entrepreneurs who think long-term. This led me, during my time in venture capital, to genuinely believe in 2018 that companies would no longer need traditional banks for IPOs, that new social media apps couldn’t possibly break through, and that Ethereum would become the ultimate blockchain technology.
Of course, none of those predictions fully came true.
I’ve gradually realized that after the initial hype, there’s a longer, more challenging phase: habit formation and strategic integration. This phase can last months or even years. While a few early adopters may seize new opportunities quickly, if you’re not among the top 5% (and I’m not), blindly chasing every trend makes little sense.
So, I’ve started focusing on accepting the inevitability of change. While I can’t control when change happens, I can control my reaction. Instead of succumbing to deep FOMO anxiety over every new trend, I prefer to approach change with playfulness and curiosity—a mindset I’ve developed through my experiences in crypto.
Lessons Learned from the Crypto Community
This isn’t the first time I’ve felt FOMO or imposter syndrome in the face of new technology. Through three years of close work with the crypto community, I’ve learned that even when you feel behind, showing curiosity and engaging actively still holds value.
I admit, FOMO was a major reason I initially dove deep into this ecosystem. Although I’d been around crypto builders for years, it wasn’t until 2021—about a year after my first child was born—that I truly wanted to understand the space firsthand.
Because I hadn’t spent years personally building in crypto like others had, I entered the field with strong imposter syndrome. I felt like a non-technical, non-crypto outsider. I actually believed I wasn’t “smart enough” to belong unless I could discuss nuanced details of blockchain consensus or governance in whitepapers.
That mindset is a trap. Once you start believing you’re not “smart” or “brave” enough to try something, you fall into a fixed mindset—and that truly hinders your future growth.
When I first decided to seriously learn crypto, I started joining Discord channels and scrolling Twitter almost constantly. My computer buzzed all day with alerts about new cryptocurrencies, new communities, new businesses, new conferences, and new technologies. I added them all to an ever-growing list of things to learn.
Should I attend developer conferences in Denver or Amsterdam? Better not miss out. Which airdrop should I participate in? Might as well try both. Do I know about this DAO? Am I up to date on the latest on-chain governance? Did I attend that demo day? Not yet—but I definitely will.
In those early days, I often asked myself:
The deep anxiety of trying to catch up in crypto
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"Why do I feel behind again just when I thought I'd caught up?"
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"Was all my previous effort on the last project wasted?"
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"How can I tell which tools and trends are truly important versus merely secondary?"
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"How can I find time to learn something new again?"
What I didn’t realize was that in the process of trying to keep up, I was actually leveling up. The progress was slow, but then suddenly—it happened.
While learning, I was also working. I helped venture capital firms coordinate connections among builders in their networks. I assisted technical teams in explaining their work in simple, accessible language. I helped hybrid organizations (like crypto-native foundations) design strategies based on both traditional and non-traditional best practices.
It turned out I didn’t need to suddenly master arcane sciences to succeed in this space. I just needed to know how to apply my strengths in a new environment.
It took me a long time to break free from that fixed mindset, but I’m grateful I did. Now I know that no matter which industry I enter next, I can do it again.
Finding Calm Amidst the Chaos of New Tech
This morning, when I saw the first Slack message saying “ChatGPT Search is the end of Google,” I did feel a familiar flicker of “I’m behind” panic. But now, I’m familiar with that feeling, and I know what comes next—so it no longer causes the same level of fear or distress.
So instead, I poured myself a second cup of coffee, tried out ChatGPT Search firsthand, and wrote this blog post.
Is this latest innovation truly the world-changing “final” technology? Who knows? But in the meantime, why not play around with it yourself and see what you think? I’d wager others aren’t as far ahead as they seem. After all, we’re all still operating within the same 24-hour news cycle. Wait and see what new thing emerges next week…
Game-over, end-of-the-world tech? Maybe. But we still can’t get DALL-E to render fonts correctly in images, so maybe no need to panic just yet…
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