I’m a very quick user of technology. I’m so quick and so good at it, that I’ve made some really awesome tools that help me improve my efficiency. I automate the way I consume news, I’ve built my own personal cloud on my own personal server that works exactly like iCloud except it’s faster and more secure, I’ve created scripts that automate the little routine things that are specific to my workflow, and I scrape content that I’d like to keep forever off of online repositories.

I love the Internet. I love computers. I’ve probably spent the equivalent of years on them. I’ve found novel ways to use my iPhone that make me scoff at the way others use their phone. I can really run a large chunk of my life, if not my whole life from that little device. And the Mac is something where the Desktop has become more of an afterthought as I’ve written and grown my special little scripts that have transformed the way I browse the web on the desktop and interact with my work and personal files.

All of this is to say, that if I’m efficient at using these tools for my benefit, I am also efficient at seeking out the ways that the computer can captivate my attention and rot my brain.

Brainrot is definitely a thing. It’s hard to explain, and even harder to quantify. But it’s this thing at the core of what makes us look like mindless zombies at worst, and recovering addicts at best, when we’re using our phones. And I am very guilty of this. Memes and brainrot content, with their catchy songs, weird cuts, and multiple video overlays are so unbelievably effective that even though I know I’m being drawn into something that’s bad for me, my brain cannot resist the temptation, and my emotions cannot resist chuckling at yet another awful little video that I then click “share” to send to my other friends who love engaging in this addictive behavior.

And, importantly, while I do know people that do not enjoy smoking, I do not know a single person that does not enjoy doomscrolling brainrot content on social media.

When I was in college, there was a very popular meme repository called 9gag. It seems so recent but when I did the math, I realized that this website was a thing a long time ago. And so now, I have to refer to it as the relic of the past that it is. We used to love 9gag. And it was not until social media stopped being about socializing that the damage really started happening because as this 9gag content evolved, itself mostly shallow content with the Me Gusta and Troll Face making their frequent appearances, it started to find a home on the video-loving endless-scrolling social media feeds that are today unrecognizable from when all of this began for me almost two decades ago on Facebook.

This transformation on its own is fascinating. What is really bordering on conspiratorial for me is the sheer volume of available video content that either asks us to admit to homosexuality, love cats, watch AI videos about infidelity, engage in antisemitism and hate speech, promote racism, and stare at AI-generated non-nude highly sexual material. And while each feed might be a reflection of the person watching and searching for the content, I have received enough of this content from a diverse enough selection of friends with varying politics, faiths, age brackets, and interests that I’m starting to think that there must be some farm out there that creates this content en masse. 

In fact, I am almost certain of it. I have never met a single person that is a meme-maker. These nameless and faceless accounts whose followers all number in the few thousands that create this massive strange network of content generators whom we have and shall never meet or know. I can also say with certainty that I am none of the things recommended to me on social media.

And it is not so much that this content even exists that’s the issue, objectionable as it is. It is the fact that it is so easily accessible and so willingly sought out by everyone. Because right above this objectionable content are my friends, posting their stories and updating me about their day and telling me where the new hip place is. It’s devious. The app you want to visit most to see what’s up is the app that keeps you hooked using objectionable content masquerading as relatable.

And all of this is exhausting me. It ruins my productivity, fractures my focus, hurts my ability to decide to do long-form entertainment like read a book or start a workout, and leaves me feeling the sort of emptiness I feel on a gloomy day where I can’t tell if the sun has set or not yet. It hurts.

In the recent past, I used to do something that would help me greatly. I would automate my phone to cut the internet on my phone by stopping cellular data and wifi for the duration of the weekend. I was inspired by the Jewish Sabbath, where they don’t work for the entirety of Saturday but I turned it into my own little respite from this online world for 48 hours. If I needed to do something on the internet during the 48 hours, I had to find a computer, sit at the computer, and deliberately go to the service or platform or application that I needed online using the computer. And TV is also okay, of course. The focus is just the phone. The more weekends that passed with me doing this, the more at ease I felt. The more the weekend approached, the more soothing my breathing would feel as I knew that I would have 48 hours where my workouts would be longer, my distractions fewer, the things I would learn would be more profound, and the information barrier would allow me to process my memories and think about my life, my feelings, and the things that mattered to myself the most without feeling like I needed to recede into the digital abyss. It is a beautiful feeling.

But I am now older. I no longer live with my family and my responsibilities and need to be online and available have once again grown to the point where it is difficult to untether my phone from the online world. I need my emails and I need Whatsapp. What is a man to do?

Well, I’m glad that Instagram now offers its full suite of features on the desktop web. I’m glad that Twitter no longer delivers actual news so I don’t really feel like I’m missing out and even if I wanted to doomscroll, the online version of Twitter is excellent. And I’m glad that I don’t really use many other apps that frequently anyway to the point that I probably don’t need them. 

And so, since I have truly had enough, I have come to a final promise to myself: No more social media on my phone. Ever again. At all. In any form. I will only visit these websites the same way I did in 2008 and 2009: On my computer, where I can take a breather, catch up on the reels, reply to chats, and then close the computer to continue my life. I have really had enough of this brain-melting experience. I hope that things will change over the years to make these more appealing to me again. But it doesn’t seem like it will.

In some ways, the Internet feels like it’s dying if you spend too much time on these platforms. But when you open the browser and start getting lost in the world beyond, there’s still a thriving internet just waiting to be visited, free from AI, free from doomscrolling, and free from the brain-melting content that you’ll find on the now-dead social media platforms.