Brainrot.

Newspapers, podcasts, film theatres and writing in my favourite bookstore helps me getting through the addiction of 'Reels, Tiktok and Youtube Shorts'

I lie in bed. It’s almost half past eleven at night, sometime in December, and I have to work the next day. I haven’t used TikTok for a while—Instagram Reels has taken its place—and I scroll for minutes on end. On the other side of my room, my bookshelf gazes at me, a world full of stories. But reading takes so dreadfully long—all that reading, just like the newspaper or a podcast. I want to absorb information quickly.

Brainrot. What?

I’m familiar with the term from TikTok and Instagram Reels, but I never bothered to look up its definition. According to Gen Z (my generation) and Gen Alpha, it means—according to Oxford University Press—a kind of self-deprecation, almost a badge of honour. We all know that all that scrolling isn’t good for us.

In January I bought a gaming PC after all these years. I was so bored in the evenings that, just like before, I wanted to do something. Over the past few weeks I’ve built up a small circle of friends—no more phone, just complete tranquillity. I even decided to subscribe to the newspaper and started doing crossword puzzles at work. And now, if I watch a reel, three clips is plenty.

I love gaming—it’s brilliant. But I also relish being outdoors again, away from my phone and out of the house. For instance, I was walking along the Binnenweg in Rotterdam: streets filled with people, pubs, bars, terraces, film theatres, and the bustling city centre. You can listen to a podcast among the crowd, socialise, or simply look around. Just a moment without reels.