Brain Rot: Grow Your Brain Instead of Rotting It

The Good News?

Brain rot is not permanent. It’s reversible. You have the keys.

This is similar to dopamine regulation. We all have a baseline level, and sometimes it goes above normal. You simply need to bring it back down to a healthy threshold.

And don’t worry. This won’t cost you $800 in a course or require the wisdom of a monk.

You’re going to reprogram your environment to make doomscrolling as difficult as possible—the behavior that leads to brain rot.

Step 1: Cut the Problem at the Source

You can’t lose weight if you keep eating burgers and chocolate bars back to back. It’s the same with brain rot: you can’t help yourself if you keep bingeing on endless short-form content. It’s simple math. It’s common sense. It’s obvious—and still easy to ignore.

So yes, you’ll need to reduce your consumption a bit. To help with that, here are a few methods (from the gentlest to the most radical):

• Turn off all notifications. Yes, you’ve read this everywhere. And yet, 81% of Android users still accept notifications when prompted. The message clearly isn’t getting through. Notifications are one of the main triggers that make you pick up your phone. In fact, 4.6% of users who receive a push notification react to it.

• Set up a blocking rule in Jomo to gradually reduce your usage (especially by adding friction when opening social media apps) → you’ll find the full tutorial just below.

• Delete your most addictive apps (TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, …) and try using the browser versions for the ones with more varied use cases (like YouTube, which offers both long, educational content and short, viral videos).

As promised, here’s the quick Jomo tutorial:

1. Download Jomo from the App Store.

2. Open Jomo, then go to Rules.

3. At the bottom, tap the “Use With Intention” template.

4. In Block → add your social media apps to start.

5. In Active → set it to Always-On.

6. In Breaks → allow yourself only 4–5 breaks per day (that’s more than enough… If you take just 5 breaks of 15 minutes, that’s already 1h25 per day on these apps).

Before each break, the best exercises are:

• Wait: you’ll have to wait before using the apps, and the delay increases over time.

• Intention: you’ll need to state why you want to use the apps.

• Recopy: you’ll have to copy a long text that discourages you from using the apps.

• Take a photo (AI): you’ll need to take a photo of a completed action to unlock access (for example: dishes done, dishwasher emptied, laundry hung up, etc.).

7. Then just tap “Schedule” to get started.

What does this rule actually do? Simple: by default, the selected apps are blocked. You’ll have to complete an action—something intentional—to access them. And of course, the time you spend on them will be limited. You can still use them, but in small, controlled doses.

Step 2: Relearn Boredom (This Is the Key)

What’s funny about boredom is that you think it’s something bad, something to avoid at all costs. But it’s not. In fact, boredom is good for your brain. It allows it to digest the information you’ve seen, heard, and absorbed throughout the day. It sorts, discards, and compiles new data. Without this time, it simply can’t do that work. It’s like eating endlessly without ever taking time to digest… At some point, you don’t need a diagram to understand that it just won’t fit anymore.

Here are a few simple things you can do every day to “bore” yourself properly:

• Force yourself to spend at least 10 minutes without your phone.

• Spend time in silence (no music, no podcast, nothing) and actually enjoy it.

• Take moments to deliberately think and build mental images.

At first, it will feel uncomfortable and strange. But you know what? That’s normal. Your brain is repairing itself.

©️ Art by West Kast.

Step 3: Replace Cheap Dopamine With Good Dopamine

The goal isn’t to drain your life of meaning, but to give it more. This often comes from doing real actions and activities. The idea is to replace the bad dopamine (generated by social media) with higher-quality dopamine.

For example, try the 1-for-1 technique:

• If you scroll for 20 minutes, make yourself run for 20 minutes in return (according to your fitness level).

• If you binge-watch for 1.5 hours, make yourself cook for 1.5 hours.

• If you watch short content for 45 minutes, make yourself do a long activity (like reading) for 45 minutes.

After a few days, you’ll really notice:

• The benefits of keeping this ratio.

• A form of “punishment” that gradually turns into something positive.

What Should You Expect? (Important)

Mostly discomfort. But nothing serious or impossible to handle.

• First few days: you’ll feel restless. You’ll constantly want to grab your phone. Your willpower will feel weak, and you’ll want to give up. This is where you need to hold on.

• Second week: the deep boredom will start to fade. It may still appear at times, but overall, it will get better.

• After the second week: calm returns.

Many people think they have ADHD based on a TikTok self-diagnosis or believe their focus is “destroyed” for one reason or another. But according to recent studies, only 3.1% of adults worldwide actually have ADHD.

The reality is that most people are simply overloaded with “cheap” dopamine, which undeniably affects their ability to focus. But it doesn’t cause an incurable disease or a permanent attention disorder.

Brain rot is reversible. Simply. For free. And quickly. Because brain rot is just a brain that got used to too much speed… and can no longer tolerate slowness.

Thank you for reading this far, it truly means a lot. I wrote this article with my brain and the help of the internet. I add sources when I think of them and remember, so you can keep exploring the topic. If you want to try the Jomo app, you can use my referral code FG2HA9 to get 14 days of free access to the paid version.