Is Your Smartphone Causing Brain Rot?

Brain rot, is it a real thing? Can you actually rot your brain using the Internet? How much time do you spend online, just scrolling, whether it's your phone or your computer at home (or God forbid, your computer at work.) 

According to seattletimes.com,
‘Research suggests that scrolling through short videos on TikTok, Instagram or YouTube Shorts is affecting our attention, memory and mental health. A recent meta-analysis of the scientific literature found that increased use of short-form video was linked with poorer cognition and increased anxiety.’  

Catherine Price is the author of the book “How to Break Up with Your Phone.” 

One person's opinion. 

And she is of the opinion that brain rot is actually a real thing. Her observation is that we are developing fragmented attention spans. You have a phone that's constantly pinging, demanding your attention. Even when you're trying to do something else on the phone, it's still trying to get you to divert, to do or look at something else.  

Some research indicates that looking at a short YouTube video or something on Instagram is potentially affecting our memory, our attention span, and our mental health. 

Tell me if this hasn't happened to you. I'm sitting in my recliner at home, getting ready to go to bed. I turn off the TV and I check my phone. For some reason, I go to YouTube and start scrolling. I am not making this up, honestly. I'll look Up and it's been 40-50 minutes.  

I'm not “doom scrolling.” I'm looking for little bits of Craig Ferguson or music related things, and I just keep scrolling and the time goes by and all of a sudden, I realize I should have been in bed an hour and a half ago.  

We are in the process of training our brains to be focused for shorter periods of time and to be distracted quicker, and the worst part about this is, the younger you are, the more susceptible you might be to those distractions. 

Jason Chein, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Temple University. Says “We do know that there are certain parts of the brain, certain connections between regions of the brains, that look like they are differentiated in people who are online more, who spend more time on social media, who are more attached to their phones,” 

There are many studies out there that demonstrate that small children spending long periods of time with screens, and that includes phones; brains develop differently.  

Fight Brain Rot.  

Have dinner with your family without phones or laptops. Read a book. Take a walk. 
Free your mind.