With Everyone's Brains Rotting Away, People Are Sharing Tips On How To Regain Your Attention Span And Better Retain Information
Recently, this post went super viral on X (formerly known as Twitter), and users had a lot to say in response:
i miss having a sharper brain. idk how to fix it. my attention span sucks, it’s hard for me to read books, my memory is horrible and it’s hard to retain information, i miss reading but i literally can’t read. I feel so stupid? what do i do
— emma (@emma_____weaver) January 2, 2025
Mostly, people pointed out that it's The Phone. If you can't get off The Phone, maybe there's a problem! Others had actual medical advice; still, others criticized social media and our inability to be happy "being bored."
I really hate to say this but it’s the phone 😭 it’s the damn phone
— EM (@SmittyNumb3r1) January 2, 2025
check your oxygen levels. Not kidding. Check if you have a deviated septum, check if you are prone to sleep apnea, check your lung capacity. Basically, check your engine before putting things in it
— chief (@SkateVamp) January 2, 2025
more people need to accept boredom and the act of being bored because the moment you’re sick of it you get the energy to do anything. what I’m typing this on, and you’re probably reading on, is designed to constantly have your attention and control https://t.co/ZHa53x6Dkz
— max (@lilvanhooters) January 3, 2025
So, I decided it'd be interesting, fun, and honestly helpful to turn to members of our own BuzzFeed Community and ask them to share their advice, in the digital age, on getting rid of brain rot and reclaiming one's attention span. Their answers were honestly SO informative. So, here are some of the best!
1."My phone stays downstairs. I have an iPad upstairs, but it has no email or social media access."
"I set boundaries at work. If a meeting is scheduled to finish at 10:00, I leave at 10:01 unless it’s absolutely crucial. If someone schedules me back to back I’ll ask a 15 minute break.
I go to bed and wake up around the same time every day. I’m a lifelong heavy reader, but I still struggle with concentration. Just accept that and don’t blame yourself or decide it’s your IQ dropping."
2."For reading more: Put all your distractions in another room, or even read at the park or library."
"Set a goal for how much you want to read, either a time limit or pages/chapters, and give yourself a reward for achieving that.
Sometimes books just don't speak to you and you need a break or a new book. I ate up eight books and four novellas from a series last year, but got 15 pages into book nine and gave up.
Also, the best time to read is when you're supposed to be asleep."
3."For brain rot, you need to look at the content you're consuming like it's food."
"You cannot thrive off of junk food; you need to be eating your plants daily.
Similarly, you cannot thrive off of drama, rage bait, gossip, and nonsense. You need to be consuming something educational and tranquil.
And I know it's an ADHD thing to have several sources of background noise, but you need quiet time. At the very least play relaxing slow music at a low volume. Sometimes getting a brain rot journal to write down all your silly thoughts helps so you can move on from them."
4."We went on holiday and there was no reception/WiFi. I was glad I'd taken my Kindle; by the end of the week, I'd finished three books and had rekindled my love of reading."
Bjelicas / Getty Images, Olena Malik / Getty Images
"Since then I've deactivated social media accounts and limited my screen time. I've been making soap, crocheting, learning French... We need to get off our phones."
"This sounds lovely."
5."I feel so much brain rot today. But this week I heard the quote, 'Distraction is the death of art, but boredom is the birthplace of it.' And that made me want to get off my phone more than ever."
6."I use all my devices with purpose. I do not scroll anything and have no social media. I avoid news aggregation sites like Reddit. If I want to read the news, I pick a newspaper or two and take a look."
"Before I turn on any kind of streaming I decide what I want to watch or listen to. My smartphone has no app icons, nothing to tell me how many notifications I have unseen, and the only time my phone beeps is for calls, texts, and my baby monitor. I use it as infrequently as possible and use the internet almost solely on my laptop, and I decide what I want to do before I open it.
I do not look at any kind of short-form content, no Twitter or its clones, no TikTok or its clones, no YouTube shorts. When looking for online communities I look for forums, not Facebook or Reddit groups. I’m careful about what is allowed to have my attention."
7."When you go places, put your phone at the bottom of whatever bag you’re using (if you bring one)."
—Anonymous
8."Ritalin...no joke. Got tested when I went back to college at 47 and had severe ADHD."
"Two degrees later, I can say that my school career in the '70s and '80s would have been way more productive if I had been tested instead of labeled 'very smart, but talks too much.'"
—Anonymous
9."Take a walk. Take one without a phone, without headphones, without distractions of any kind. Look at the area around you, take special note of nature you see if you can. We live our lives too disconnected from the outside world."
—Anonymous
10."I love reading comics, graphic novels, and manga. I think they’re sort of like a healthy medium between traditional literature and videos."
"If you’re trying to get your attention span back but can’t get into a traditional novel, I recommend reading graphic novels or the like, so you can have something to stimulate you but also something to take in and read."
—Anonymous
11."In January 2024 I decided to keep a list of all the books I finished that year. It kept me motivated to actually read a book in a timely fashion and finish what I was reading."
"Seeing the list of my progress was great motivation and I felt so proud to see my list growing. By December I had finished 17 books!
I know that's not a massive amount of books in a year, but considering there are some people who haven't read an actual book in years, I'll take it as a win! I'm better at focusing now, I'm more creative, I feel more relaxed and less overwhelmed, and I can have wonderful conversations about what I'm reading!
I'm also an elementary school teacher, so showing my students what strong reading looks like has helped them become more resilient in their academics too. Seriously, challenge yourself to get through as many books as possible in a set amount of time and your mind will feel refreshed once you get into the habit!"
—Anonymous
12."I quit social media. No Twitter or Meta. I’m back to reading actual books and newspapers."
—Anonymous
13."A piece of advice I read in a book is to move things like Instagram or Facebook off your phone and onto your computer."
"They take more effort to access, and they're harder to use, which makes them easier to quickly check and then move onto something else."
—Anonymous
14."20 minutes of meditation each day. It was hard at first because I felt like I should be doing something else but I'm a couple months into daily practice now and can confirm the benefits are not overstated."
—Anonymous
15."Mental health therapist here. I tell all of my clients to place boundaries around media consumption, put limits on device usage, and to have small things to look forward to during the day, week, and month."
"If you must consume media, choose longer videos or articles that require more sustained attention rather than quick dopamine-hit shorts."
Also: You don’t need to check your phone immediately every single time it dings or buzzes! Check it in the morning, at lunch, and in the evening. Most people will defend their constant device usage and tell me, 'What if it’s an emergency? And I miss the text/call?!' If it’s an emergency, the other person shouldn’t be calling you; they should be calling an ambulance or going to a hospital."
—Anonymous
16."I've started reading more paper books as much as possible. If it's a book I've bought for myself, then I highlight passages I find interesting, write little notes in the margins, etc. It helps keep me engaged in the book."
"I also use index cards as bookmarks so I can take notes on them, like by creating a running list of characters, or a timeline, if the book has a lot of different people/locations/relationships to keep track of."
—Anonymous
17.And finally: "I have forced myself to stick to my Goodreads goals of reading a set amount of books per year. I used to be an avid reader, but over the years it drifted away from me..."
"I have a Kindle and have been paying for Kindle Unlimited for ages, but finally, after going through my budget, I decided this was one thing I would actually keep because spending money on it would mean I MUST use it.
"Since then, I've rediscovered my absolute love of reading. I read at work, I read in the bath, I read before bed. There have even been some nights I stayed up too late because I was reading a book I absolutely could NOT put down!
Aside from the benefit of concentration, I feel like I've been getting my words back and have even started writing again. If you have Amazon Prime, even without Kindle Unlimited, you can still get TONS of free books, and you can read them in your computer browser if you don't have a Kindle. It's opened my entire world back up!"
—Anonymous
If you're looking to spend less time online and reconnect with the real world, this is your sign that not only is it totally possible, but other people are doing it, too — you're just not reading about it that much on the internet 😉. Tell me what you think down in the comments below! Or, feel free to share your own anti-brain rot tactics.
Or, if you have something to say but prefer to stay anonymous, you can write in via anonymous Google form.
Some comments have been edited for length and/or clarity.
