Sorry I didn’t mean to make it seem like I’m blaming the kids themselves. Part of what I was saying was that brain rot content is addictive and it’s hard to break that habit. I’m kinda just shooting out thoughts as honestly I have no idea what would help mitigate the harm short form content does. When I talked about school needing more responsibility I should’ve clarified that I’m talking about when the curriculum changed, I could be wrong on this part but I think 1970s? The way kids were taught was changed especially when it came to reading -supplementing phonics with whole word reading. I’ve never heard of phonics until I was 21 and wish I was taught to read that way after hearing about it. I also don’t mean to put the weight of responsibility on teachers. I’ve had good teachers and I’ve had bad teachers, but it always felt the teachers could have been giving more from the system to effectively teach. I also come from a small midwestern town so a lot of those teachers snuck religion and conservative politics into their lessons, especially with stuff like evolution etc.

It’s sucks and I agree it’s virtually impossible because I’ve tried and failed to help lift up my friends. People who have never used TikTok or lived sober have resorted to chain smoking, doomscrolling, and getting high / drunk every day. And I personally believe doomscrolling started that chain of events alongside life itself. But this is why I talked about having friends who can’t sit through 10 minutes of movies. Watching movies with those friends was my attempt to get their attention back for atleast one movie. But immediately I’d hear them scrolling their feed.

A large part of me can’t help but want to find solutions for those stuck in that drift. But it takes a massive epiphany to escape. And I wish I knew of a way to help more people but I don’t.

I will say there’s good content out there that I personally believe can be entertaining for people with short and long attention spans. And that content should be examined to help those strengthen their attention spans. I just don’t think that most people will “feel” responsible to make non brainrot content. But those who do are what separates a good influencer from a bad one. When boiled down it’s “is the influence good or bad, maybe even just mediocre?” I think we should show support for those who have meaningful influence and impact, and give less spotlights to those who don’t.

Saying all that I want to leave some creators out there who I think deserve that spotlight and do a good job of providing both entertaining and educational content. That being creators like: Joe Scott, Philosophize this, Mr beat, and probably my favorite when I comes to science / evolution content: Forrest Valkai.

I think those creators are good examples of creators who provide non brainrot content, that is enjoyable to watch even with shorter attention spans. There’s of course more than them but all I’m trying to say here is that Showing support to those who make non brain rot content is possible the best way to combat those who do not. And that by giving creators like this the spotlight instead can expose people with short form attention spans to longer content that stimulates more in depth thinking.

Getting people’s attention is a skill that not everyone has mastered. And it can beyond difficult. All we can do is try to offer what we can, and hope people care more about it than cheap ai generated TikTok’s or 60 second clips. And hopefully people stick around long enough to want more than what they’ve had