In the era of short videos, here are six methods to save your “rotten” brain.
As we constantly swipe up to switch between videos and scatter our attention among colorful streams of information, our brains may be silently rotting.
Oxford Dictionary’s 2024 Word of the Year, “brain rot,” describes this digital-age phenomenon: after consuming large amounts of low-quality internet content, our mental faculties gradually decline. Our brains lose their sharpness of thought, emotional resilience, and efficiency of action. This crisis facing humanity is exactly as the term suggests: the brain is rotting.
Before exploring this issue, however, we must first understand what constitutes a healthy brain.
Neurologists often define brain health through three core dimensions:
▨ Thinking: Does the brain maintain clear logic and effectively process complex information? Does it have sufficient memory capacity?
▨ Emotions: Can the brain adapt to stress and setbacks, or does it often break down?
▨ Action: Can it convert thoughts and emotions into action? This includes completing daily tasks and developing habits.
If your brain is beginning to “rot,” then all three of these dimensions are likely deteriorating. You may be able to improve your brain function through the following methods.
01
True relaxation isn’t shutting down.
but immersive focus.
Often, we mistakenly believe that “resting” means doing nothing. The most common way we relax is by lying on the couch and scrolling through social media or watching short videos. We wait for content we’re interested in to be fed to us by algorithms.
However, this “shutdown and maintenance” approach does not adequately rest the brain. As early as 2014, research showed that, though highly information-dense, passive content like short videos has an extremely low cognitive load. Prolonged exposure to this type of information environment weakens the functionality of the attention system (Katsuki & Constantinidis, 2014).
In contrast, what rejuvenates the brain is immersive focus, or “flow,” as described by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
When we engage in activities that require concentrated attention, involve complex systems, are challenging, and have clear goals, our brains enter a state of heightened focus and pleasure.
In other words, mental labor, such as learning languages, playing instruments, or programming, may be the best form of rest for the brain. These activities cultivate interest and a sense of accomplishment, and help us break free from passively receiving information and shift toward actively constructing knowledge.
Research indicates that such intrinsically motivated learning behaviors develop the executive function system of the brain, located in the prefrontal cortex. This system is responsible for planning, attention control, and emotional regulation.
These functions determine whether we can resist “brain atrophy” and maintain brain vitality.
02
Restoring the Sense of Touch
This primal sensory channel
Many people have not considered that smartphones have reduced the range of our touch.
Today’s smartphones are increasingly slim and lightweight, allowing us to browse endless information with just one finger. This extremely simplified operation has disconnected the body from other senses.
The sense of touch is the earliest developed and most fundamental sensory channel in humans. It is an important component of human perception and directly participates in spatial awareness, memory, and emotional regulation. The richer and more complex the tactile activities, the greater the stimulation of the brain. These are aspects that cannot be replaced by swiping a screen.
Despite the rise of “paperless” practices, students still use advanced tablets with capacitive pens to take traditional handwritten notes. This is because handwritten notes enhance learners’ understanding and memory of content more effectively than typing does. Handwriting activates multiple brain regions related to language, movement, and stress regulation—3.2 times more than typing (Mueller, 2014).
Therefore, during leisure time, engage in activities that activate the sense of touch.
▨ Write in a diary or copy excerpts from books using a pen and paper instead of typing.
▨ Engage in activities that require both hands, such as assembling models, creating collages, or knitting.
▨ Read physical books or magazines and flip pages instead of swiping.
▨ Bake, cook, or repurpose items like milk tea cups or takeout bags into useful items. Opt to make things instead of buying them.
In an era flooded with visual information, returning to tactile experiences is a way to balance and regulate the brain’s perceptual functions.
03
Breaking the “Smartphone Addiction” Habit
As we all know, quitting internet addiction is extremely difficult. This is because we have developed behavioral inertia, making picking up a smartphone and opening TikTok more automatic and swift than shaking it to open Pinduoduo.
In “Atomic Habits,” James Clear proposes that the formation of any habit depends on four steps: cue, craving, response, and reward. To break a habit, you can approach it from these same four angles.
Humans are visual creatures, and red dots, vibrations, and sound effects are “cues” that increase the likelihood of a behavior. To eliminate these cues, you can:
▨ Disable notifications for most apps, especially social media, short video, and shopping apps.
▨ Enable “do not disturb” mode during specific times, such as after work from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.
▨ Do not log into social media on your work computer to physically separate work and entertainment devices.
▨ Use a minimalist mode to reduce visual stimuli.
If people were carrying basic feature phones, there would be no need to actively avoid them. To reduce your phone’s appeal, you can:
▨ Uninstall redundant entertainment apps to avoid switching to another app after feeling fatigued from watching videos.
▨ Place work apps or uninteresting software on the home screen.
▨ Pre-select preferred content to avoid wasting time by constantly switching and refreshing.
With our phones always by our side, we can instantly satisfy our impulses. To make it harder to react impulsively, you can:
▨ Use a phone lock box or app. Start with 30 minutes and gradually increase the lock time.
▨ Watch movies and TV shows on larger screens, such as projectors or TVs, to reduce the need for constant interaction and improve focus.
▨ Keep your phone in a distant room or a drawer where it’s difficult to see.
Habits form because they offer pleasurable rewards. To reverse this effect and break bad habits, you can:
▨ Once you recognize addictive patterns, attach negative consequences to the behavior. For example, when you instinctively open a short video app, immediately imagine that three hours have passed and you’ve gained nothing. Today, I’ve wasted my time again! After prolonged, deliberate practice, your brain will associate this thought with picking up your phone, evoking the image of a lifeless fish and making it easier to break your phone addiction.
▨ Design rewards for positive behaviors. For instance, after consistently reading deeply before bed for a week, treat yourself to a small item you like. (Please avoid using “watching videos” as a reward for “not watching videos.”)
04
Return to Offline Life
One of the key manifestations of “brain rot” is the weakening of our connections with others and with reality.
However, the human brain’s default mode network (DMN) is more active during social interactions than when receiving information. This suggests that we naturally think and grow better through interaction with others than through prolonged isolation in front of a screen (Lieberman, 2013).
Therefore, to benefit our brains, we should adopt more offline entertainment methods. For example, you could agree with friends that whoever checks their phone first buys the next round. You could also try one of the many hands-on courses available each week or take a 20-minute walk in the park to help your brain regain its vitality.
Additionally, the short video environment has a far greater detrimental effect on children’s patience and attention than on adults because ages 6–12 are a critical period for the development of the brain’s multisensory integration abilities. However, children lack the ability to independently choose healthier behaviors, so adult modeling is particularly important.
Instead of scolding children for using their phones, take them outside to explore nature, observe plants and animals, or do crafts. Even simple bedtime stories or animated TV shows are preferable to short videos.
05
Sleep is the most powerful
brain repair activity.
During deep non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, one of the greatest neural collaborative performances known to date occurs. During this time, cerebrospinal fluid flows through the brain like waves, removing metabolic waste (including substances associated with Alzheimer’s disease) that has accumulated during the day. (Walker, 2007).
Short videos and social media are highly stimulating content. Combined with the blue light emitted by smartphone screens, they delay sleep onset and reduce the likelihood of entering deep sleep. This is why you still feel physically exhausted, mentally scattered, and visually blurred the next day after falling asleep while scrolling on your phone.
Creating a comfortable sleep environment is crucial for brain health.
▨ Avoid blue light, and do not bring your phone to bed one hour before sleep. Draw a clear line between “using the brain” and “repairing the brain.”
▨ Keep the bedroom cool, dimly lit, and quiet. Choose skin-friendly bedding.
▨ Engage in activities that help your body rest, such as light yoga, foot soaks, or meditation.
Sleep is the foundation of all brain repair activities. Therefore, to combat “brain decay,” it is necessary not only to reduce information intake and focus attention, but also to restore the brain’s self-repair capabilities.
06
Exercise as a Brain Supplement
In his podcast, American nutritionist Andrew Huberman mentioned that exercise’s effects on the brain are not “indirectly helpful” but “directly activating.”
Research shows that people who exercise regularly produce more myelin. Myelin is a lipid layer that enhances the speed and efficiency of neural signal transmission. Myelin surrounds neural pathways, making them smoother and faster. This enables us to react more quickly, remember more clearly, and maintain emotional stability when faced with challenges.
Additionally, exercise can trigger neurogenesis, the growth of new neurons in the brain. This process is commonly observed in infants’ and young children’s brain activity, but adults can also stimulate their brains through moderate exercise. This enhances their learning ability and emotional resilience.
Neurologist Tara Swart proposes that exercise that triggers neurogenesis must meet the following conditions:
▨ Moderate intensity. Choose gentle aerobic exercise and avoid excessive heart rate.
▨ Intermittent. Exercise three times a week or exercise one week and rest the next.
During the alternation between exercise and rest, the brain naturally releases BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), one of the most critical factors promoting neural plasticity. Eating deep-sea fish and dark green vegetables also aids in repairing brain neural structures.
Final Thoughts:
In the internet age, it’s unrealistic to expect to maintain brain health by abstaining from electronic devices.
Digital content can provide relaxation and comfort at times. Combating “brain decay” isn’t about opposing entertainment; it’s about offering more ways to connect with the world.
After all, the human brain is a precise and magnificent product of evolution that needs to be explored and nurtured. We cannot escape the digital world, but we can learn to live more mindfully within it.
