Whenever I go through a Challenging Period—sickness, sadness, or in recent times, the slow-burning stress of moving apartments & looking for a job—I tend to use it as an excuse to overindulge in passive media consumption. Twitter, YouTube, podcasts—especially podcasts. The content itself is usually well-made and insightful, like a podcast about tech antitrust, or a video examining the Fallout series through the lens of class conflict, but the way I’m consuming it—passively, mindlessly, algorithmically—means that I tend to remember little, if anything, of real value.
And if I remember nothing, the effective result of a Twitter, YouTube, or podcast binge is that I’ve essentially just deleted several hours from my one-and-only human life. Worse, I’ve eradicated the mental space into which I could have birthed new ideas or reflected on past experiences. My mind is like a garden overrun by invasive species, with no space for my own thoughts to take root.
The cure for brainrot is simple, but can be agonizing to administer: Reduce stimulation. Embrace boredom. Cultivate an empty field so your mind can fill it with flowers.