You know, only about 15% of you will watch this video through to the end. Think about that in a few minutes. Most of you will be gone, lured away by another notification.
A fresh piece of content, some shiny new dopamine hit. And no, I don't blame you. I get it.
Your brain, my brain. In fact, everyone's brain is in the midst of a massive rewiring, we’ve never seen in human history. It's a pattern that's literally happening across every social platform.
You know that restless feeling, that itch to check your phone. That inability to stay put. Some call it.
And let me confess something. I'm making this video because honestly, lately I've been feeling all of it too. The same restlessness, that same short circuit in my inability to read books.
I'm finding it harder to sit through movies, TV shows, and harder to simply think I am terrified of losing this ability. But I can't quit social media because it's my job. So I thought, what better way to study this phenomenon, the history, the future, and why all of it is happening.
And I also share everything that I learned with all of you guys. Those who stuck till here. Thank you so much.
Stick with me for the next 10 minutes because I'll show you exactly what's happening inside your head, why it's happening and what we can do about it. It's really important because we feel if we don't understand how our little ancient hardware reacts to modern overload, we risk losing the very capacities, that’s focus, creativity, insight that makes us human. As you're watching this video, like right now, your brain is being rewired entire time, but you understand exactly what's going on.
You need to look at how our brains evolved to process information in the first place. We're going back in time. Let me introduce you to the OG human, the hunter gatherer.
His brain, which is basically very identical to us, evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to do something very specific. That's pay attention to what matters and filter out what doesn't. For example, when he sees a predator or sees berries, that's his food.
His brain releases dopamine, a chemical that says, hey, this is important. Pay attention to this. But fast forward to 2024.
You know, we still have that same basic brain architecture. But now, instead of the occasional predator that we stumble upon now and then, our brains are continuously being flooded with these same reward chemicals. Not for finding food or avoiding danger.
But for this, every notification, every like every scroll, each one triggering the same ancient circuitry. You know, our brains can't tell the difference between a crucial survival cue and a funny cat video. Both deliver novelty, both release dopamine.
The result? A relentless cycle of seeking reward. But even meaningless content can feel oddly compelling.
Neuroscientists call our brain’s adaptability, neuroplasticity. In simpler times, this slow, careful rewiring took generations. But around 2007, coinciding with the smartphone revolution and the rise of social media, this rewiring went into hyperdrive.
Within a decade and a half, we have trained our brains to crave constant novelty, fragmenting our attention and making deep focus feel unnatural. We're facing what scientists call a cognitive evolutionary mismatch. You see our environment change at light speed.
While our brains still think we are in the Pleistocene. You know, I'm very amused by how stupid yet how smart our little brains are. So in the 1960s, there was this Canadian theorist, Marshall McLuhan, who famously said, the medium is the message.
He basically argued that form of communication shapes society's thinking more than the actual content. And I feel like today, this couldn't be more relevant. You see, before we had TV, radio.
But now the media landscape is dominated by platforms which are engineered for short bursts of attention. Vertical video feeds, 15 second clips. Trending hashtags.
And all of these platforms reward engagement above all else. That means more novelty, more shock, more instantaneous gratification. So the message we are receiving isn't just funny dances or cat names.
The deeper message is that brains should expect immediate rewards at all times. And the medium’s design, endless scrolling, autoplay infinite content, conditions are cognitive patterns. We might think that we have control over what we watch, we’re choosing what we watch, but the truth is that the medium chooses how we think.
And that's what we're sort of being controlled by. We're living in a world where attention is currency, and every swipe is a micro transaction in a massive attention economy. So over time, as platforms capitalize on this, more and more, it’ll rewire our neural pathways, making sustained thought more and more difficult.
And here's another interesting thing I learned while researching about content, media and our brains that I wanted to share with you. So back in 1976, the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins introduced the concept of “memes” in his book “The Selfish Gene”. If you look at the original meaning of the word “meme”, it meant a unit of cultural transmission spreading from mind to mind.
How genes spread biologically. But decades later, internet has turned “meme” into a household word describing funny images, jokes and viral trends that replicate endlessly online. But let's actually pause for a moment and think about what “memes” represent tiny packets of information that spread at the speed of light.
Means today are often low context, high on emotional punch. They are cultural shorthand, intellectual popcorn transmitted in seconds. And you know, Gen Z and Gen Alpha have entire vocabularies born not from books or lived experiences, but from memes and viral references.
“Shawty”, “blud”, like, that's good, that's rizz. It's rizz right there. Mad lit, on God on God, no cap.
Skibidi Toilet, Gyatt, Ohio, Fanum Tax, Rizz. This is literally how teenagers are talking right now. You know, there are random songs that are going viral on the internet.
Slangs like “moye-moye”. These micro cultural phenomena, they spread instantly umoored from geography, history or depth. And if you think about it, it's not just the audience.
Even brands are adapting to this shift to look more relatable to the audience. Welcome to the Goated Ganga Gurukulam. We have got the squad, the energy, we are the OG.
The drip check on the point. Tech level, low key top tier hit different. I feel like Dawkins’ idea of a “meme” as a cultural replicator, has actually become supercharged in the digital age.
Memes now are shaping our worldview are inside jokes are language, the way we talk, our values, without us ever slowing down to reflect. Yes, they're fun, they're fast, and they reinforce a new neural wiring that's quick hits of amusement, then on to the next thing. You know, if you look at the repercussion of all of it on the younger generations, Gen Z and Gen Alpha, the result is unprecedented.
Teachers say their students struggle to focus on a single lesson. Kids were born into this era of iPads and iPhones at the age 2, have neural pathways shaped by infinite feeds from day one. Studies show declining reading rates, reduced tolerance for slower media like long form journalism, documentary films, and an impatience with anything that isn't immediately stimulating.
And it's all quite concerning, because as we change our neural architecture, our neural pathways, mental health professionals have noticed increases in anxiety, restlessness and the inability to handle boredom. You know, boredom, once the crucible of creative thought is now treated like it's a disease. Why sit and daydream when we can instantly check social media?
Why reflect upon anything in the world when social algorithms promise something entertaining right now? This is essentially what we are calling brain rot, the Oxford Dictionary word of the year, is this profound shift on how we process information. Instead of building deep conceptual understanding of anything, we skip along the surface of data streams.
Instead of remembering what we saw, we rely on the internet as an external hard drive. Instead of forming stable dopamine baselines where normal activities can also be satisfying, we are perpetually chasing micro doses of digital dopamine. And to be honest, there is another side to this, another side that we can pick.
You know, instead of mindlessly scrolling, what if we use the internet to learn something genuinely valuable? Now, I know it's also easy to blame the platform for a distraction, but we need to remember that it's also a very powerful enabler. Without it, some of the biggest companies in the world wouldn't exist.
And even me, I own much of my career to the internet learning skills outside traditional college, connecting with people and building businesses. All of it happened online. In this hyper competitive world, the right content, right resources, can also help you stand out.
With just a few clicks, you can learn almost anything, sharpen your abilities, and gain real leverage. Of course, navigating this crowded digital landscape isn't always easy. That's why we want to guide you towards something truly worthwhile.
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But if you are interested and want to check out the course, I'm putting a link in the description below, now back to the video. I have a question for you. Have you ever thought about how our memories form?
You know our brain, it basically forms memories through repeated attention. Now, of course, this is a little more simplified, but when we focus deeply, the hippocampus consolidates new information into long term storage. But here's another thought for you.
What if we never concentrate long enough? What if every 30 seconds we interrupt ourselves with a notification? Our brain never gets the chance to encode a memory.
The result? Just in time memory, where we trust Google or social feeds to provide answers on demand. The brain literally just goes like why store any knowledge when it's all just a click away?
Dopamine, again, our favorite neurotransmitter, is at the heart of this. Each swipe, each tap or click can trigger a small dopamine release. Reinforcing this habit.
It’s basically like a slot machine. Maybe the next pull will deliver something amazing. And this intermittent reinforcement is highly addictive.
Training us for shallowness. Neuroscientist Nicholas Carr once warned in his book “The Shallows” that the internet changes not only what we think about, but how we think. And honestly, today that warning feels like.
The attention economy, companies monetizing every second of your gaze. , has economic implication as well. You know, productivity suffers when we can't sustain focus, creativity declines when we never let our minds wander.
And if you think about the second order effect of all of this, countries itself depend on citizens who can grapple with complex issues, think critically and consider multiple viewpoints. But how will we do all of it if we are trained to consume content in tiny, disjointed snippets? You know, as we become more distractible, we risk losing our competitive advantage.
True innovation emerges from deep work, from extended periods of uninterrupted thought. And if we can't tolerate silence or complexity, you might struggle to solve any big problems when there's so much to solve. All of the problems that we face right now globally, they all require sustained attention, not a flurry of half read headlines.
So the question is, what do we do? Are we doomed to become shallow, restless scrollers. Well, there's some good news.
You know, neuroplasticity actually works both ways. Just how we adapted to this high dopamine environment. We can also adapt to the alternative.
We can retrain our brains. But of course, it's not going to be easy. It's going to be like building muscle after years of being a couch potato.
It takes a lot of intentional effort, and I think the very first step is just recognizing the problem and having awareness and some intentionality towards fixing it. I'll tell you some things that I've been trying that have work for me. First is essentially just admitting that this is something I need to fix.
Second is progressive overload for attention. If you’ve trained your brain to watch 15 second reels every day, don't expect to read a heavy 500 page book right away. Start small, 5 minutes of focus reading, then 10, then 20.
Over time you will build mental endurance. Your concentration muscles strengthens with incremental challenges. Second is environmental design, which has really, really helped me.
You know, our environment nudges our behavior. So if your phone is always on your desk, you will grab it. If you put it in another room when you're working or when you're studying.
If you use website blockers, or add a lot of friction to access infinite content, that could work for you. Basically, what we have to do is make focus the path of least resistance, but make distraction a path with a lot of resistance. Next is just rebalancing the dopamine little bit.
You know, I've started setting aside periods, maybe 30 minutes in a day or maybe two. Not in a day where I just sit and literally do nothing stimulating. No phone, no TV, no podcast, no YouTube, nothing.
But I feel like if you push through your brain somewhere, resets this dopamine baseline. After a few weeks, reading a book or just having a slow conversation can feel rewarding again. And this isn't pseudo science.
Neuroscientists have confirmed that reducing stimulus overload can restore your capacity for deep focus. And lastly, it's just mindful consumption. Next time you watch a video or read an article, reflect afterward.
What did I learn? How does it connect to what I know? I think a lot of schools and institutions also need to start thinking about this problem.
Something that schools might need to start teaching is attention literacy. Addressing the problem with students. Employers could incentivize deep work over constant slack pings.
I feel like platforms also somewhere should start considering more humane design principles, less infinite scroll, and concentrated more towards conscious pausing. And as consumers, we can definitely demand better interfaces that respect our cognitive limits. So if there's somebody who has stuck with me till here, you are part of the 15%.
You've demonstrated that with intention and interest, we can resist the pull of endless novelty. I would like to leave you guys with a few closing thoughts. Remember, 100,000 years ago, our ancestors learned to pay attention selectively for survival.
But today, survival might depend on relearning how to pay attention deeply. We don't have to reject technology. But you must insist that things that makes us human focus, memory, creativity are worth protecting.
So after this video ends, try not to click away immediately. Sit quietly for a minute. Let the information settle.
Ask yourself, what resonated with me? What can I do differently tomorrow? I feel like this small act of intentional reflection fights brain rot.
It reclaims a piece of your neural real estate from the infinite scroll. And lastly, I have a small request from all of you. If you are somebody who has gone through this and fought this and are taking intentional action, or if you’ve found some things that have worked for you, please, please, please do share them in the comments below.
I would love to read it. I feel like it will also be valuable for all the other people who are watching this video. Yeah, that's about it.
My name is Achina Mayya. Thank you so much for watching. Please don't forget to hit the subscribe button and please share this video with your friends and family, if you found it valuable.
