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De-Brainrot Vacations

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Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#51

Post by lwood42 »

uneoneuno wrote: post #46
serf wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I think the „my brain isn’t the same anymore“ sensation is pretty universal. I disagree with the premise that you're propping up with the exercise example; I disagree that humans are thinking less because of mechanisms available in society. if anything I think people are thinking more than they ever have, and that has triggered a lot of people into overthinking themselves into a quagmire of inaction , judgement, and…

[flagged]

I detest the fact that that slur has reentered acceptable common parlance.

Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#52

Post by coldtea »

FinnLobsien wrote: post #18

I think the „my brain isn’t the same anymore“ sensation is pretty universal. Between addictive online media in our personal lives and AI at work, I think we’ve made mental effort largely optional. That must be a horrible thing. One of my favorite theories is the physical activity transition. In my grandparents‘ generation, physical movement became more optional as work shifted from manual labor to knowledge work or o…

>I think the „my brain isn’t the same anymore“ sensation is pretty universal.

One would hope so, but there are countless people that believe this can't ever be the case, and it's just lack of personal motivation that's the problem.

Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#53

Post by alper »

Just take Baby Rudin and a serious stack of paper with you on these holidays and you should be set.

My two experiences of de-brainrotting:

1. Doing a pilgrimage walk in Japan with a cleared phone home screen. Only the Gaia GPS app on there with the route, and some other local weather and mapping applications. No consumption of anything external during the day. Just steady walking and eating and looking around. It was excellent. You can probably do this anywhere given the right context and commitment.

2. We slept several nights in a hut at 2100m altitude in the Austrian Alps just out of range of cell reception so the icon on my phone was "satellite" all the time. It turns out that without the possibility of communication or fresh input, you can read a bit on your kindle in the evening and then go KO at around 22:00 sleeping like a rock until 06:30. Such an amazing amount of rest and refreshment just from a simple accident of geography.

Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#54

Post by FinnLobsien »

serf wrote: post #29
FinnLobsien wrote: post #18

I think the „my brain isn’t the same anymore“ sensation is pretty universal. Between addictive online media in our personal lives and AI at work, I think we’ve made mental effort largely optional. That must be a horrible thing. One of my favorite theories is the physical activity transition. In my grandparents‘ generation, physical movement became more optional as work shifted from manual labor to knowledge work or o…

>I think the „my brain isn’t the same anymore“ sensation is pretty universal. I disagree with the premise that you're propping up with the exercise example; I disagree that humans are thinking less because of mechanisms available in society. if anything I think people are thinking more than they ever have, and that has triggered a lot of people into overthinking themselves into a quagmire of inaction , judgement, and…

Yeah I think this is also true. Maybe "thinking less" is the wrong framing. Whether it's an excess or a deficiency of thinking, there's definitely a lack of straining cognitive activity.

It might be reading books, pondering deep ideas, painting a landscape, doing software engineering, or solving crossword puzzles.

But all of those are happening much less due (in my opinion) to the factors I described.

Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#55

Post by XorNot »

boudin wrote: post #38
FinnLobsien wrote: post #18

I think the „my brain isn’t the same anymore“ sensation is pretty universal. Between addictive online media in our personal lives and AI at work, I think we’ve made mental effort largely optional. That must be a horrible thing. One of my favorite theories is the physical activity transition. In my grandparents‘ generation, physical movement became more optional as work shifted from manual labor to knowledge work or o…

I have another suggestion which doesn't contradict yours. When I was younger I used to get bored way more often. I had to wait regularly during a week (e.g. for a bus, friend, appointment) or even at work as a software dev (e.g. compilation which used to take more time). This was also the case when doing some physical activities which didn't require lot of thoughts. Back then, before mobile phones with internet acces…

That seems less likely then people being tired and stressed from the costs of living and the increased economic instability.

We have smartphones but we're perilously few missed pay cheques away from not having a house, with a capital class gleefully telling everyone how they'll all be unemployable very soon.

Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#56

Post by 0xcde4c3db »

boudin wrote: post #38
FinnLobsien wrote: post #18

I think the „my brain isn’t the same anymore“ sensation is pretty universal. Between addictive online media in our personal lives and AI at work, I think we’ve made mental effort largely optional. That must be a horrible thing. One of my favorite theories is the physical activity transition. In my grandparents‘ generation, physical movement became more optional as work shifted from manual labor to knowledge work or o…

I have another suggestion which doesn't contradict yours. When I was younger I used to get bored way more often. I had to wait regularly during a week (e.g. for a bus, friend, appointment) or even at work as a software dev (e.g. compilation which used to take more time). This was also the case when doing some physical activities which didn't require lot of thoughts. Back then, before mobile phones with internet acces…

I doubt that's the only factor, but I agree that it's almost certainly a factor. The modern "tech" industry has filled our waking hours with unceasing demands to do something. Buy this product, watch this video, listen to this podcast, react to this social media post; even "practice self-care" has somehow turned into an obligatory virtue-cultivating task. We obviously had advertising before, but this is a different beast, something akin to living in a casino.

As Bo Burnham put it, "apathy's a tragedy and boredom is a crime".

Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#57

Post by anshs4 »

i've moved away from smartphones. i carry a burner keypad phone with essential contacts everywhere, and my screen time is at most an hour a day.

now, when i'm tired from work or need some recreation, i read books.

i used to scroll on my phone, and it was really hard for me to find even a few minutes to read books.

Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#58

Post by underlipton »

DanielVZ wrote: post #33
friendly_chap wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have bad news for you: for the majority of the population mental effort was always a foreign concept. That's exactly what got us in this mess in the first place.

Not sure if always but probably there's a rise of anti-intellectualism in general since I'd say the 2000s. I remember being amazed by how intelligent adults were when I was little. Always doing cross-words, sudoku, reading books, discussing the classics, etc. But now those same adults don't read anything anymore, and just spend their time watching netflix on bed. The same adults that used to correct my vocabulary, gr…

I think the anti-intellectualism crisis gets mischaracterized. Common rejection of experts, academia, and empirical findings is certainly a part of it, but I tend to see more of an issue with targeted, self-serving ignorance, particularly among the elite.

You have extremely intelligent and influential people balking at, say, the undeniable net benefits of universal healthcare, renewable energy investment, and cash payment UBI.

Worse, they use their intelligence to attack interventions that run against their preconceived notions. Milton Friedman was not an idiot, and yet he and his acolytes did (and do) untold damage in anti-intellectual perpetuation of their outmoded ideas.

The common thread between that and skipping conversation for Netflix is disengagement with cognitive load that doesn't immediately benefit you. They both suck, but I think that one hurts more, and hurts more.

Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#59

Post by aldanor »

Indulging in musicianship works very well, too. As in, learning a musical instrument, say classical piano, with some external guidance.

You'll have to activate parts of brain you might never had to previously, it's quite some mental gymnastics but also an immersive mind + body + aural connection. You may feel exhausted after an intensive practice session but in a very rewarding way. You'll have to learn to learn differently.

Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#60

Post by noelrock »

A refreshing read. While not in the same lane as the author re maths/physics/SWE, I empathise.

I think on one hand, things are simply less novel as we get older and more expert in a given lane. That’s age old.

But the dopamine hit/attention deficit issue is altogether new, and it’s troubling from a societal perspective. I suspect it’s fairly universal that adults in 2026 aren’t reading nearly as much as they aspire to, or claim to be.

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