INTRODUCTION
Have you ever found yourself scrolling on your phone for hours? You’ve lost track of time, your mind is fatigued, your body is tired, and you can’t even think straight, feeling agitated, anxious and depressed. There is a word for this. It’s called Brain Rot.
Nowadays, these feelings are pretty standard as screen time is increasing rapidly. It can affect mental health badly if not worked on.
WHAT IS BRAIN ROT?
Brain Rot is a condition where your mind and your body suffer because of excessive screen time. In this state, people feel mental fogginess and cognitive decline.
People affected by brain rot start navigating their lives on the basis of the content they consume online, which can be evident in their daily behavior, like how they talk and behave with others.
Examples of brain rot behaviours
Zombie scrolling–
Zombie scrolling, you pick up your phone as a normal person, and then you keep on scrolling until you turn into a zombie where you have no thoughts, no feelings, no emotions, and you’re only consuming media, real after real video after video, feeling detached as loose track of time and what is going on near you.
Compulsive video gaming–
Another example is compulsive video gaming, where someone can’t help but keep playing more and more because they’re addicted to the world of the game, the characters, and all the possibilities they have in that world. In fact, they are so focused on the game that they’re not able to function in real life anymore.
Doom scrolling-
The third example of brain rot is Doom scrolling, where you constantly search for negative information or bad news from around the world even if it is upsetting you because, at one point, you have this desire to be up to date with all the negative information.
Social media addiction-
Finally, the fourth example of brain rot is social media addiction, where you keep checking your phone again and again for any notification, any message, any DM, how many comments you get, how many likes you get, and if you are doing other things in the world half your attention is constantly fixed on what is happening on your phone.
Effects of Brain Rot behavior on mental health and Emotional well being-
Now you might think, what is the harm? What is wrong with checking your phone or scrolling on your computer? How does it affect you? How does it cause you any damage? This is a mistake.
When you are scrolling on your phone, your mind or brain goes through a dopamine loop. So, as you finish watching a reel, your mind builds up anticipation of what the next reel is going to be, and your dopamine levels spike. And the only way to get a reward is to scroll up and watch the next reel. As soon as the next reel starts, your dopamine levels fall, and you get a sense of happiness or satisfaction.
But as that reel is ending again, there is a buildup of anticipation, and the only way to get the next reward is to scroll up again. This Loop is going on in your limbic system, which is the Primitive part of your brain, without any say from your prefrontal cortex or your conscious free-will self.
In other words, you are caught up in a limbic loop, and that is what we call Brain rot because you don’t have any conscious control over it. In other words, you have become a vegetable caught up in limbic emotions.
Another mistake that people make is thinking that scrolling on social media is relaxation or rest. This is actually not true. When you scroll on Instagram or YouTube, imagine that every reel is sending you on a very different emotional trajectory. One real makes you laugh; one real makes you cry; one reel you’re jealous of, and one reel you’re afraid of.
Now imagine the roller coaster of emotions that you are going through, and this effort on the brain itself is enough to make you tired. Another thing is if you’re Doom scrolling, the sheer amount of negative news out there is enough to put your body and your brain into a state of stress.
So if you’ve been scrolling for a few hours, you will end up feeling as if you’ve done a lot of work, and now you do actually need to rest, so never scroll thinking that you’re on a break.
Prevention from Brain Rot
Now that we’ve spoken about what brain rot is and how it affects your brain. Let’s talk about what to do. These are the five things that, in my view, are important for preventing Brain Rot.
Curiosity-
When you open an app like Instagram or YouTube, you have to decide what you are curious about, and that should guide you into the content. You should be deciding what you want to see and not letting the algorithm decide what they want to show you. And that can only happen if you know what you want to learn. So, if you are driven by curiosity, it is more likely that you will come across content that you actually benefit from.
Creativity-
Now, Creativity is when you use the information in your brain to actually make something and put it out into the world. And you can only do that if your prefrontal cortex is working. This is the opposite of brain rot.
Remember, brain rot is when your PFC(prefrontal cortex) is not working at all, and you are only caught up in a limbic loop. Creativity is sort of a rebellion against brain rot, so use whatever you are learning, whatever you’re seeing on social media, and try to create things with it. Talk about it, write about it, tweet about it, speak to your friends about it, spread that information, and you are, in a way, fighting against Brain rot.
Compartments–
Number three is compartments. It is very important to create compartments for your social media use, and that is compartments in space and time. You need to have clear-cut boundaries of how much will you spend time on social media and respect those time limits. If you set the alarm or if you’ve set a limit and if the limit says that your time is up, respect it now. In my opinion, these are all practical tips because, let’s face it, social media is here to stay; in an ideal world, you could say that I don’t want to open social media at all, but I know that that is a difficult task for most of us.
Connections –
now, step number four is building genuine connections with real people and trying to take them offline. It will make the whole social media experience so much more accurate and grounded.
PFC(Pre Frontal Cortex) Training –
finally, number five is prefrontal cortex training. You have to strengthen your prefrontal cortex in order to be able to fight against the limbic addiction Loop and the way to do this is by watching this video that I’ve made on what are the ways in which you can strengthen your prefrontal cortex.
Conclusion
There is a whole world beyond the screens. It would be foolish to say that we can completely refrain from Screens and Social media. However, we can certainly limit our time and build real connections to grow in our lives. Digital Detox is the need of the hour.
If you think Brain Rot is a serious issue that has started hampering your daily life, get professional help. Do not hide behind the screens of your laptop and mobile; reach out to a therapist or counselor, who can help you come out from this addiction and set real goals.