Your opinion please.

Better to be loudly wrong than quietly unsure...

There’s this guy on LinkedIn who has a take on everything.

Whatever film just came out. Whether AI’s going to replace everyone. Crypto. That thing with that celebrity. The new iPhone. Cold showers.

Ask him about literally anything and he’s got a position. Fully formed. Ready to go. Complete with three supporting arguments and a prediction about what’ll happen next.

I can barely decide what to have for lunch.

But somewhere along the line we all agreed that having no opinion makes you boring. Uninformed. Like you’re failing some basic test of being a proper adult.

So now everyone’s got a hot take on everything, delivered with the confidence of someone who’s spent years studying the topic, when actually they read two headlines and a Reddit thread while on the loo.

The other day someone asked me what I thought about some documentary everyone’s watching.

I said “Haven’t seen it yet.”

You’d think I’d admitted to drowning puppies.

“But what do you think about what happened?”

I don’t know. I haven’t watched it. I don’t know the full story. I could guess based on what people have said, but then I’d just be making it up, wouldn’t I?

This was apparently the wrong answer.

Because not having an opinion isn’t allowed anymore. You have to have one. Even if it’s shit. Even if you made it up on the spot based on nothing. Even if you’ll have completely forgotten about it by tomorrow.

Just say something. Anything. Show you’re paying attention.

Someone asks what you think about some new app or some business model or some trend, and suddenly people who’ve never even tried it have got a full thesis prepared. They read one article. Maybe watched a YouTube video. Now they’re an expert.

We’re all picking up opinions we found lying around and wearing them for a bit to see if they fit. And if someone challenges us, we double down, because backing down makes you look weak or uninformed.

Better to be loudly wrong than quietly unsure.

The worst bit is when people try to force you into it. You’re at dinner and someone brings up some news story and everyone’s looking at you, waiting.

“What do you think about it?”

“I don’t really have a view.”

“Come on, you must have some thoughts.”

No. I don’t. I genuinely do not care about this enough to have formed a position. And even if I did care, I haven’t read enough to say anything intelligent about it.

But you can’t say that, because then you’re the one being difficult.

So now we’ve got a world full of people with opinions on absolutely everything, most of which they came up with in the last thirty seconds, and we’re all pretending this is normal.

LinkedIn’s the worst for it.

Copywriters posting their thoughts on blockchain technology. Recruiters explaining quantum computing. Marketing consultants with firm views on commercial property markets.

None of these people work in those industries. They’ve never studied them. They couldn’t explain the basics if you asked.

But they’ve got a view. And they’re sharing it. Because that’s what you do now.

You have opinions on things you don’t understand, about industries you’ll never work in, affecting people you’ll never meet, and you deliver them with absolute certainty.

Because someone might think you’re stupid if you don’t.

I saw a post last week from a graphic designer explaining monetary policy. Not joking. Full breakdown of interest rates and inflation.

Mate, you make logos.

Another one was a life coach with strong opinions on semiconductor manufacturing. Semiconductors. The bloke sells PDFs about morning routines and he’s out here talking about chip fabrication like he works at Nvidia.

And people lap it up.

Because we’ve decided that having opinions is more important than knowing what you’re talking about.

The performance matters more than the substance.

You’re not supposed to say “I don’t know” anymore. That makes you look uninformed. Unengaged. Not curious enough.

So people fake it.

They cobble together a position from headlines and tweets and reels, and they post it with complete confidence, and we all pretend this is fine.

It’s not fine.

It’s exhausting.

What if “I don’t know” was just a normal thing to say?

Not as a way of avoiding the conversation. Just as an honest response to being asked about something you genuinely don’t have enough information or interest to form a proper view on.

“What do you think about that new AI tool?”

“I don’t know. Haven’t tried it.”

“Thoughts on intermittent fasting?”

“No idea. Not looked into it.”

Perfectly reasonable answers. You’re not required to have a position on everything just because someone asked.

But we act like you are.

Because not having an opinion makes you look like you’re not paying attention. And paying attention is the most important thing now.

Even if you’re paying attention to things that don’t matter.

Even if your opinion’s worthless.

Even if you’ll have forgotten the whole thing by next week.

At least you said something.