Why did I decide to launch Un-Popular Psychology?

Thought -> Idea -> Now Action

To my first readers and those who are reading this first, welcome to Unpopular Psychology.

1. Who writes Unpopular Psychology?

I’m a millennial from India who grew up in the 'Gelf'. Ever since I was young, my world was always marked with contradictions. I remember feeling poor in the Gulf and rich in India. I learnt Indian history while the windows of my classroom opened to an Arab man’s world. Growing up, I shared a big and bulky white desktop with the rest of my family. I had an Orkut account. I got my first cellphone when I was in Grade 12, it was a Nokia E52. When I was a kid, Motorola flip-phones were popular and blankets used to be free on flights. I reverse-migrated to Kerala every year during summer vacation. A few lucky, good-looking jackfruits from my grandparents’ backyard would always come back with me when I returned. When I was a kid, my family still had faith in the Indian National Congress. 

I moved to India 10 years ago and my world continues to be marked with contradictions. I still feel things in my mother tongue but say things mostly in English. I constantly come across people who wish to go back to the agricultural times. I know this because they tweet about it. They are also often the same guys who get upset at Zomato Support when their order runs 5 minutes late. I know some rich people who are extravagantly friendly with their house maids but aloof with their small-town colleagues.

Maybe a world full of contradictions is what will always await me, wherever I go. It’s a good thing, I guess, because it gives me so much to write about.

2. Why the decision to get on the Unpopular side of Psychology?

I don’t know how many of you were lucky enough to experience this - I grew up in surroundings where there wasn’t this pressure to be politically correct all the time. It used to be possible to disagree with the popular opinion, as long as your dispute held substance. I was encouraged to share what I thought even if my thought was a different thought. Arguments were seen as interesting, entertaining conversations after which everybody would go back to eating or playing or sleeping. I miss that time.

The way I see it (feel free to disagree), our brains are at the centre of our work, our food, our purchases, our politics, our health, our education, our technology, basically everything. Our brains are astonishing organs. They have the ability to help us override instinct with reason. They allow us to not just feel feelings but also think logic. The brain is why we’ve gotten so far as a species, its decision-making abilities are at the core of our sustenance. Despite being the lucky owners of this fascinating organ, we lend ourselves way too easily to brainwashing. We readily accept the majority opinion of the groups we are born into or have become a part of without critical examination. We don’t question anything nowadays for fear of being cancelled. Challenging anything or anybody has become extremely uncool. 

When we subscribe to popular notions and beliefs, we subscribe to someone else’s brain and relinquish our own. What if we can make unappealing, not-so-straightforward truths okay to talk about and think about? Is self-awareness overhyped? Is too much validation really good for you? Can guilt be useful? Is PMS a rich people syndrome? Which one makes psychological sense - communism or capitalism? Should you really unconditionally love your partner?

I’m yet to find out if I’ll be successful at co-creating a space of this kind but Unpopular Psychology is certainly my attempt towards it.

3. What can we build together (maybe)?

Many times, unpopular and truth are synonymous. Over time, I’ve realised that I prefer truth to popularity. I’m here to see if there are others like me - people who prefer truth-seeking to popularity.

Together, I hope we can build an uncomfortably safe space where folks can disagree without feeling scared and agree without feeling embarrassed. A space where relationships are built on logical reasoning instead of specious politics, where disagreements can be seen as helpful interventions and where being rational does not mean that you don’t care.

You will get an unpopular psychology post every Monday in your inbox.

This newsletter is free for now. If you find my writing valuable and this mission-type of effort a useful one to join, please support my work in ways that you can (share, comment, pledge) until I feel comfortable enough to provide you with the option to pay to read Unpopular Psychology.

The first real issue will be out next Monday. Keep an eye out, and in the meantime, forward this to folks in your network who might enjoy reading some Unpopular Psychology every now and then.

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