Brain rot: How to beat it!

If you have ever lost hours of your life scrolling through endless TikTok reels, debating the supremacy of kachchi biriyani over tehari on Facebook, or stalking your cousin's latest engagement photos for the 87th time, congratulations—you might already be familiar with brain rot. 

The term, crowned as Oxford's Word of the Year, is not just internet slang anymore; it's a diagnosis.

But what exactly is brain rot, and why does it feel as if our collective heads are slowly turning into a mush of clickbait headlines and viral dance challenges?

What is brain rot?

Think of it as the intellectual equivalent of eating fuchka from a questionable vendor by the roadside. It's amazing when you put it in your mouth but months or years down the line of constantly having it, your inwards are ruined. To put it simply, brain rot is the slow deterioration of your attention span, critical thinking, and even meaningful conversational skills as a result of the ever-present flood of irrelevant information.

It's the reason you know every detail about a celebrity divorce but forgot your friend's birthday last week. It's why you can memorise a reel's sound in one go but struggle to remember the number of districts in Bangladesh.

This is not just an individual problem—it's a societal one. From university students losing themselves in meme pages during finals season to office workers sneaking in YouTube sessions during work hours, brain rot has quietly infiltrated every aspect of our lives.

Signs that your brain is rotting

Scroll regret: You started with a quick Facebook check and ended up watching a chicken-themed cooking hack at 2 AM. The chicken was not even cooked properly!

Attention span: You cannot get through a five-minute YouTube video without pausing to check WhatsApp, Instagram, and Foodpanda offers.

Mindless conversations: Your everyday chats revolve around what "someone" said on a random Facebook group, yet you cannot remember your last meaningful conversation with a real person.

Chasing trends: You've debated whether green jilapi was an abomination or a masterpiece more times than you have considered your own career goals.

If any of these sounds familiar, you are already in the danger zone.

How to avoid brain rot

Not everything on your timeline deserves attention. If it is not teaching you something valuable or making you genuinely laugh, skip it. Follow content that nourishes your brain, not stuff that makes you feel like an extra in a badly written Bangla drama.

Reclaim your time

Instead of spiralling into a three-hour meme binge, try spending some of that time reading an actual book or cooking that long-forgotten recipe your mum swears by. Small acts of mindfulness help reset your brain.

Limit screen time

Use those built-in screen time apps to set daily limits. You do not need to know what someone's third cousin ate for breakfast or why some random influencer's workout video is going viral. Trust me, your sanity will thank you.

Revisit simpler joys

Remember when family evenings were about ludo or chatting over tea? Bring that back. A proper adda with friends or family will do more for your soul than a trending dance challenge ever could.

Create before you consume

Instead of watching others' lives on a loop, start creating something of your own. It could be as simple as writing down your thoughts, sketching, or even making plans for that dream coffee shop you will one day open.

Brain rot is more than just an abstract idea; it's the actual effort to maintain mental acuity in a world that continuously draws you closer to unimportant things. It is the reason why, even when you have "done nothing" in theory, you feel exhausted at the end of the day.

But here's the thing—your brain is not beyond saving. With a little effort, you can pull it out of the endless scroll pits and bring it back to life. So, the next time you catch yourself deep in the void of content, pause, take a breath, and ask yourself, "Do I really need to know if someone's cat has more followers than me?"

Spoiler: You do not! And that, my friends, is how you beat the rot.