🧟 Avoiding "brain rot"

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about “brain rot”. Specifically, about the many technologies developed over the last twenty-or-so years that have been purposefully engineered to siphon your time and attention away from other meaningful pursuits – thus inducing a state of “brain rot”.

I define “brain rot” as the creeping atrophy of mental faculties, abilities, and critical thinking skills that comes from prolonged exposure to technologies which have been engineered to maintain your attention for as long as possible. These technologies are built with the intention of selling your attention to advertisers, and are largely to blame for the indoctrination of my parent’s and grandparent’s generation into politically extremist views.

My hope for this week’s newsletter is that it will serve to inoculate some of you against the effects of such technologies.

Please note: this newsletter adheres to Daniel Miessler’s AI Influence Level (AIL) Zero

Be mindful; awareness of one’s own thoughts – and the world around us – is a super power at a time where so many people are glued to their screen. Even when we ourselves are consuming content from a screen, being mindful of what we’re choosing to consume is a healthy way to avoid falling into an algorithmically suggested content loop.

Beware algorithmic suggestion; whether it’s from social media, short-or-long form video (such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc.), or clickbait news outlets – beware falling into a state where your time and attention is being monetized. These platforms are designed to keep you engaged so that they can continually sell advertising to you, and they will do almost anything to keep you engaged with their content.

Read more books; reading has been found to have positive affects on loneliness, mental health, empathy, and social cognition. What’s more – when it comes to reading a book, your time and attention are not someone else’s product to be acquired and sold.

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. “According to Buddhism, the root of suffering is neither the feeling of pain nor of sadness nor even of meaninglessness. Rather, the real root of suffering is this never-ending and pointless pursuit of ephemeral feelings, which causes us to be in a constant state of tension, restlessness and dissatisfaction. Due to this pursuit, the mind is never satisfied.” Buddhism tries to teach mindfulness (through meditation) as a way of overcoming this state of existence. Are you being lured into capitalism’s dopamine loops by not practicing mindfulness?

Virtual Unreality by Charles Seife. “Bad information is a disease that attacks the brain. It messes with your head, making you do things that you shouldn't, causing you to make wrong decisions. Just as a potent virus co-opts your cells' machinery, bad information can co-opt your behavior. It can alter the way you interact with the world and, as a result, it can change the world”. Nations, political parties, corporations, and people are increasingly producing and sharing bad information in order to monetize your attention and shape your behavior. The only way to combat this is to be mindful (and critical) of the information you’re consuming.

Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer. “Our lives are the sum of our memories. How much are we willing to lose from our already short lives by … not paying attention?” This particular quote feels both apropos for today’s newsletter, and very Zen.

‘Deeply concerning’: reading for fun in the US has fallen by 40%. “Reading has historically been a low-barrier, high-impact way to creatively . . . improve quality of life.” What ramifications will this have in a world that is becoming too impatient to enjoy the written word? How much wisdom and joy will become inaccessible to people as a result of this trend? In whose interest is it to have people read fewer books?

AI is a Mass-Delusion Event. “It’s difficult to deny that generative-AI tools are transformative, insomuch as their adoption has radically altered the economy and the digital world. Social networks and the internet at large have been flooded with AI slop and synthetic text.” This is why I am try to be mindful of choosing books over other forms of media.

Endoscopist deskilling risk after exposure to artificial intelligence in colonoscopy. I discussed a similar observation in a previous newsletter (Synthetic Talent vs. Authentic Skill); it’s concerning to see the measurable effect AI is also having on skilled professionals outside the software development and information security spaces.

Among the many habits I have formed – daily meditation, reading, and technologically enforced limits on social media – I believe my habit of reading for thirty to ninety minutes every day has had the greatest positive impact on my life. I have my dad to thank for sparking my love for reading, and my wife to thank for rekindling that fire when we started living together after college.

If you’re struggling to build a reading habit of your own, let me reassure you that it doesn’t really matter what you read – just so long as you’re reading a book of some kind. It can be science fiction, romantic fantasy, progression fantasy, non-fiction, religious, or even books that teach you about technology. Anything will do.

So, what are you reading these days? And if you’re not reading – what habits are you forming to avoid “brain rot”?

Let me know what you think.

– Keith