The top 1% ChatGPT badge is the new workaholism

People who brag about being a "top 1% ChatGPT user" might be bottom 1% at thinking.

Half a year ago I noticed something strange in my own behavior.

I was maxing out my Claude subscription. Every day.

When Claude limitted me, I opened Perplexity. Eight hours per workday. Two weeks straight.

In reality:

• I felt exhausted
• My judgement felt foggy
• My head felt full and empty at once

I had outsourced my thinking. Not the typing. The thinking.

At some point I caught myself: I help build sovereign AI systems for a living. But my own use was not sovereign at all.

I was using AI like a workaholic uses hours:

More prompts felt like progress, more outputs felt like proof.

When I see "top 1% ChatGPT user" claims on LinkedIn now, I recognize the pattern. It's the old "I work 24/7" badge of honor in a new form.

Hours in tool ≠ depth of thought.Token count ≠ clarity of judgement.

Being an AI power user becomes a red flag when:

• You start every task in the chat window
• You feel lost without the tool
• You accept outputs faster than you question them

That path leads to AI-powered busy work, decisions that backfire, and slow erosion of your own thinking muscle.

Since then my process is different: think first, prompt second, take a break and let thoughts marinate. When my judgement feels cloudy during a session, that's my signal to step away for the rest of the day.

In my opinion, the challenge with AI is noticing when it stops being a tool and becomes a crutch.

Have you noticed this pattern in your own use of AI?