Brain rot, who are to blame ?
Brain rot is a noun referring to material of low or addictive quality typically in online media. This term becomes synonymous with Tiktok and any short form content circulating around social media these days. These short form content hooked our brain and making us spend more into a platform that takes away our "opportunity cost". But who are to blame in this phenomenon? Is it the company who provides the platform, the content creator who creates the content, or us, who consume the said content? Or nobody is to be blame because that’s just the way it works these days?
How dangerous brain rot is that even the government decided to step in and educating people about the dangers of it?
Remember there was a phrase like “attention span like a goldfish”, now it’s worse than just short attention span. It’s not our attention span that’s getting affected but our entire lives.
When you’re consuming shorts, it’s easy to get lost to it and spend hours scrolling through tiktok, youtube shorts, etc. Indirectly, you're affecting your own productivity even potential opportunity cost that could have spent in something that actually brings us joy and elevate our lives.
The danger of brain rot doesn’t just stop there. Just as you see in this study below, these negative association is also echoed throughout many nations with concerns that their Gen Z generation, in Gen Z word, NGMI (Not gonna make it).
according to a study of 1,051 young adults between 18 and 27 years old, social media addiction has a significant negative association with executive functioning skills such as planning, organization, problem-solving, decision-making, and working memory.ref Newport institute
Even more so with the rise of AI these days which could do almost everything that is said above, what should we do as a human being?
Are we heading towards a dystopian society sooner than we expected?
Are big companies solely to blame for getting us hooked?
I find this particularly fascinating because I can understand the train of thoughts that goes beyond making a product.
As a business, platform wants its place to succeed & generate money. In social media companies retention is a key. Even around hive, retention should be the metric for success too. It’s where people stay loyal into the platform, uses it and it is ingrained in their daily life. That is more easier for them to buy in and such.
Platform creates a product that not only people love but also ensure they are stay chained to it. They create rule around it so that people who use it also caters to their best interest. In this chain of process, enters content creator/people who make content. They’re not necessarily just a consumer but has quite significant voices to influence others. A consumer can also turn into a content creator. After all, this is 2025 where user generated content reigns especially in the age of AI.
Are they to blame for following the platform rules?
In 2025, being a content creator is almost a job title itself. It used to be something a lot of people sneer at and was seen as something of a joke. But, many platforms offering people with significant followers the opportunity of earning money. By nature, these people want their content to be liked and be at the mercy of algorithm god. So, they contribute in making these so-called brain rot content since that’s something people enjoy and consume.
We can’t help it but to continue scroll of our favorite topic. Are we then to blame for not having a self-control?
Are we to blame for contracting the brain rot?
In this long chain of activity, some of us think that us, people/user are the sole victim. Yet even when you see through the lens of platform owners, content creators, and society, they are all the victim too. We are all trapped within our own problems that leads us to this complex and intricate spider’s web.
Can we avoid brain rot?
Yes, sure we can. I personally believe that change starts from within and we have the ability to create some changes. We lead by examples.
These days, I thought about this quite a lot as I also consider myself entangled in this complex spider’s web. I am a consumer but also someone who writes and I also used to write to influence people to buy something a.k.a a copywriter. I felt like sometimes I neglected my responsibilities to create something that doesn’t contribute to brain rot. There were moments when I write for the sake of writing without thinking much of it. There were days when I spend merely 20 minutes to write and I’d consider it a day. In all honestly, anything that is lack of depth can be considered brain rot.
“Who read long winded paragraphs these days?”
When I heard that question thrown around, it’s just another cue that brain rot has seeped into our society and might as well be ingrained. It’s as if we lose hope that people have no ability to read anymore or spend more than 10 minutes in reading something.
Sure, some writers can write nothing but empty words. It might just be strings of words, tied together without much of meaning but there are also others in the other spectrum whose words are not empty.
Where things get interesting for me
I ran some experiments to myself these days in a journey to reset my brain. I try to write 60 minutes a day and I can produce better stuff than what I normally would. I am not rushing anymore and I kind of enjoy it because short bursts of writing were making me burning out faster than I would like. Sure, I can spend 25 minutes or less and maybe in a day I can write 2-3 pieces but honestly, they lack of depth.
The same goes with the way I interact with others, not just here but anywhere. We often overestimate the amount spent to read something because we’re always distracted. The thing is, to read 1000 words and leaving more meaningful interaction won’t take more than 10 minutes of our time. Rather than just “Thank you” or “Nice”, try to spend a little bit more time. If it doesn’t worth your 60 seconds skip and leave.
This has been the second week since I ran this and I’ve noticed such tremendous change. I am back to where I was at some point in my life where I was never rushing to anything. I am back to that point where I felt genuinely happy of my craft and enjoyed every second of it. Most importantly, I also want to contribute against the brain rot that’s currently plaguing our society.
See you around!
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 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
Its the curse of this age, we are responsible for ourselfs as adults but for the sad reality of the kids parents are responsible and there it lacks. Pure convenience so to not get in an argument.., its so bad that a part of the skull in kids on the back side of the skull start growing bone to compensate looking down the whole time, swiping in their dreams. All and all i get the Wally vibes, its true thats where we are heading (well not into space i hope), total numbness in an dystopian world (zombies)... Being lived instead of living evaporates the soul, keep doing what you do, you rock Bee 🤠
Sometimes it feels like that these days. We're not really living anymore but being lived.
uhu just dont haha thats easy to say i know.. We still are merely slaves to the system. And then you find out its everywhere you look even in places like this where the hope was here we have opened up but no, same old, same old. Not talking individual but as a collective, still got a long way to go. We will overcome it and thrive🤠
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I want web2 social media to implement a simple filter to immediately decline all videos with AI narration and/or text popping into the middle of the screen. AI could do that for us. But they won't.
They definitely won't though it's a good use case for AI 😄
brain rot is good. its like "better to get lazy at least not tired" saying. :)
This lays out the issues behind brain rot very well ... I had not thought about it in this kind of big sequence both for the individual and the society. I find short, mindless videos deeply annoying ... I did not realize they are an actual danger to EVERYTHING...