The Brainrot Epidemic
What’s in the article-
- Why is this happening?
- What are the long term effects?
- Is there a fix?
- My personal attempts to avoid brainrot.
(Note- I don’t use ChatGpt or any AI tool to write).
You know it, I know it, everyone knows it — short form content is killing people’s ability to study anything in depth. Post school/college or even while people are into academics, their ability to take cognitive load or their ability to maintain a flow state of deep uninterrupted work/study has become a battle of sorts.
Why is this happening?
Human attention span has come down from 12 seconds to 8 seconds; that’s less than a goldfish’s (9 seconds) attention span, by the way. How did all of this happen within a decade? TikTok? Maybe.
The invention of short-form scrollable content — easily accessible and unlimited in quantity — is so rampant in today’s age that it’s super easy for people to fall into the never-ending well of feel-good content, which gives them short-term dopamine spikes. These apps/platforms have always battled for attention but never like this before. Creators are applying every science, tactic, and psychological trick in making their first 8-second hook so compelling that people end up watching their reel/TikTok till the end.
In recent cases, the situation has gotten so bad that people are taking desperate measures to grab attention, doing things that would once have been scorned. Today, there is no right or wrong — everything is a game of attention, and people are willing to go to any height to grab it. Data used to be the new oil, but today it is attention, by margins.
The core remains the same through the ages, despite the medium changing: sell the audience something. Monetize your reach.
What are the long-term effects?
Studies done on the human psyche in the TikTok/Reels era reveal that the human brain is taking incomprehensible damage when it comes to focusing on literally anything. People chronically addicted to short-form content struggle to watch a 12-minute YouTube video or a full-length movie.
People are increasingly incapable of investing time for a better or deeper reward (whether knowledge, entertainment, or skill-building). When they can laugh continuously by watching more than 300 reels, why would they watch a two-hour comedy movie? The trade-off has become a mountain too steep for most screen addicts to climb.
Most of these chronically online reel/TikTok addicts fail to remember the reel they watched three scrolls above and how it ended. Memory retention is nearly zero due to content overload.
The damages are innumerable and alarming: weaker long-term memory formation, dopamine desensitization, surface-level learning, increased anxiety and restlessness, insecurity, comparison, sleep disruption, moodiness, and so on.
I fear this will get so bad that the biggest reason behind the new generation’s unemployability will be short-form content addiction.
We can already see multitudes of examples wherein kids go diabolical once they lose access to their phones. There have even been cases of violence when their phones were taken away. Suicidal tendencies increase manifold due to short-form content addiction too. It’s a net negative for most users. The results will be clearer in 10–20 years.
Is there a fix?
Like all other addictions, the fix for short-form content also comes from within or can be enforced externally. We haven’t yet reached the stage where rehab centres for such people exist — but if they open in the future, I won’t be surprised.
If you are reading this article and are self-aware enough to recognize that you or someone you love may be addicted and needs help, here are a few things you can try:
Sit down and introspect: How much time are you spending online uselessly? Screen-time tracking is readily available; check it and you might be shocked. Ask yourself if this is the right use of your precious time.
Remind yourself of your ambition: Do you want to start a startup, get into Harvard, or become a national sports player? None of this will happen without obsession and sacrifice. At the top, discipline is the difference-maker. Ronaldo’s blueprint is transparent, but most people lack the discipline to follow it. You don’t need to be Ronaldo-level obsessed if you don’t want to be the best — but even to stand out and make a good life, it takes effort.
Have an accountability partner: A sibling, partner, or friend close to your age can help. Enable, motivate, and keep each other on track. Shared goals are often achieved more easily.
Plan deliberately: Spend 10 minutes every day mapping out short-term goals, long-term goals, what to avoid, and what to run from — and apply it consciously.
Use screen-time warning apps: Let them nudge you when you cross more than 10 minutes on social media. A small interruption can go a long way.
There are countless ways to fight this addiction, but the greatest and most effective remains sheer willpower. Mastering that benefits you to fight from any kind of indiscipline that might creep in, in your life.
My personal methods to avoid brainrot-
I too, like many of you have been struggling with brainrot and doomscrolling despite being aware of its consequences. My fight with brainrot is an ongoing effort but here are a few things I’m trying and will be trying in the future to avoid brainrot-
Avoid screens in the first 1–2 hours of your day and last 2 hours before sleeping. Keep your phone away from your reach during bedtime.
Use DnD services as much as possible. While working, working out and any other activity whee the screen isn’t required.
Keep internet off in your phone as much as possible. The notifications popping really hurt your effort to quit screen-time.
Disable push notifications for social apps if possible. Most of our lives don’t depend on social media so this can actually be done.
Decide time intervals and limits in which you want to use and engage with such apps and STICK to it.
Even if you are consuming short-form content try resetting your account or create a new account and follow net-positive content creators in your professional field. Atleast, you’ll end up getting motivated or learn something new.
Have an accountability partner with whom you can share screen-time reports daily/weekly and you both can keep each other in check.
Write your thoughts down, pick writing as a hobby, write about whatever you like either publicly or privately. Reading and writing requires effort of your brain thinking and rewires it significantly.
Rewire your brain with long-form content. Switch to reading good books. The time you put in reels/tiktoks will now start going into consuming better knowledge. Reading>>>>anything.
Well these are good to begin with I believe. You’ll falter every now and then but little progress everyday will go a long way.
I hope this article was able to provoke some thought and help you take a better resolve for yourself and for your loved ones.