Social media, brain rot and the slow death of reading
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Social media, brain rot and the slow death of reading
Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are engines of distraction and cultural rot. They stand in front of the more difficult but more rewarding aspects of life: deep work, intimate connections with friends and loved ones, focused attention for hobbies with intrinsic rewards. By training users to crave constant novelty and the immediate approval of an... See more
Adam Singer • TikTok and Instagram are intellectual poison
with attention becoming a rare commodity, fewer people are able to devote themselves to reading without distraction.
Chris Bailey • Hyperfocus: How to Work Less to Achieve More
Perhaps that is why so many of us have half-done tasks on our to-do lists and half-read books on our bedside tables, scroll through Instagram while simultaneously semi-watching Netflix, and swipe between apps and tabs endlessly, from when we first open our eyes until we finally fall asleep. One uncomfortable explanation for why so many aspects of m
... See moreCasey Cep • What Monks Can Teach Us About Paying Attention
frequently hear myself telling people that I just don’t have enough time to read deeply anymore—“the kids!”, “the startup!”—but if I picked up a book instead of reflexively opening Twitter every couple of hours, I’m sure I would have read my way through a library in the last 10 years.