I’ve never installed tiktok. And I got rid of Instagram years before shorts. Additionally, while I enjoy long form YouTube videos from non-brainrot creators, I haven’t used the official app in years, so I avoid shorts there as well.
I’m not bragging, it’s just relevant to my next statement:
I too feel like my content consumption isn’t long enough. I think the instant gratification of moving to the next thing minutes after the first is bad for our brains.
In the last couple of months I have started reading again. Audiobooks mostly, and I know it’s not the same, but it engages my brain while driving for work.
Additionally, in the last few weeks, I’ve changed our TV habits. We usually watch 2 or 3 hours of TV in the evenings, which is probably too long by some metrics but I’m not ready to cut back yet, personally.
What I have done, however, is stop binging.
Normally we pick two, maybe three at most, shows we want to watch. Then we burn through them, episode after episode. Churning through the seasons until they’re either gone or we’re caught up with it’s production.
Lately, I’ve done the opposite. We watch one episode of a show we like. Only one.
We can watch one of another show if we want. But thus far we haven’t added more shows to the rotation, hard to keep track, might negate benefits, IDK.
When we’ve watched one episode of one or two shows. We either change gears and stop watching TV, or watch a movie.
By that time, the time for TV is more of less over.
Already I’m seeing benefits, small, but I’m happy.
The next day, in my idle thoughts, I’ll find myself thinking about what happened in the show, and making connections and predictions that I otherwise wouldn’t have made. I enjoy this.
Plus we have a backlog of movies, we’re really bad about dedicating time to movies, even though we’d gladly waste that time watching several episodes in a row of a show 🤦♂️
So I’m glad to be getting into some good movies too.
FWIW, studies have found that reading and speech activate different language regions of the brain… But oddly enough, audiobooks activate the reading parts of the brain, not just the speech parts. So it may be more similar than you’d initially think.
I finally got my AudioBookShelf instance up and running last year, around March. In those remaining 7 months, I “read” (listened to) over 50 books. I used to be a voracious reader as a child. But at some point I lost the spark, as finding time to read got harder and harder. Audiobooks have reignited that love for reading, in a way I can’t even put into words.
I find myself looking forward to my daily commute, because it means I can listen to another two or three chapters in the car. I’ve even started taking the longer route home (which is technically more fuel efficient, but adds like 10 minutes to my commute) because I don’t mind the extra time in the car. I find myself wanting to wash the dishes or fold the laundry, because I can have my earbuds in while I work.
I still doomscroll on YouTube shorts or Instagram reels occasionally, but that doesn’t mean I have to give up long form content like reading. They fill two entirely separate niches.
hereiamagain@sh.itjust.works 8 hours ago
I’ve never installed tiktok. And I got rid of Instagram years before shorts. Additionally, while I enjoy long form YouTube videos from non-brainrot creators, I haven’t used the official app in years, so I avoid shorts there as well.
I’m not bragging, it’s just relevant to my next statement:
I too feel like my content consumption isn’t long enough. I think the instant gratification of moving to the next thing minutes after the first is bad for our brains.
In the last couple of months I have started reading again. Audiobooks mostly, and I know it’s not the same, but it engages my brain while driving for work.
Additionally, in the last few weeks, I’ve changed our TV habits. We usually watch 2 or 3 hours of TV in the evenings, which is probably too long by some metrics but I’m not ready to cut back yet, personally. What I have done, however, is stop binging.
Normally we pick two, maybe three at most, shows we want to watch. Then we burn through them, episode after episode. Churning through the seasons until they’re either gone or we’re caught up with it’s production.
Lately, I’ve done the opposite. We watch one episode of a show we like. Only one. We can watch one of another show if we want. But thus far we haven’t added more shows to the rotation, hard to keep track, might negate benefits, IDK.
When we’ve watched one episode of one or two shows. We either change gears and stop watching TV, or watch a movie.
By that time, the time for TV is more of less over.
Already I’m seeing benefits, small, but I’m happy. The next day, in my idle thoughts, I’ll find myself thinking about what happened in the show, and making connections and predictions that I otherwise wouldn’t have made. I enjoy this.
Plus we have a backlog of movies, we’re really bad about dedicating time to movies, even though we’d gladly waste that time watching several episodes in a row of a show 🤦♂️ So I’m glad to be getting into some good movies too.
mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 hours ago
FWIW, studies have found that reading and speech activate different language regions of the brain… But oddly enough, audiobooks activate the reading parts of the brain, not just the speech parts. So it may be more similar than you’d initially think.
I finally got my AudioBookShelf instance up and running last year, around March. In those remaining 7 months, I “read” (listened to) over 50 books. I used to be a voracious reader as a child. But at some point I lost the spark, as finding time to read got harder and harder. Audiobooks have reignited that love for reading, in a way I can’t even put into words.
I find myself looking forward to my daily commute, because it means I can listen to another two or three chapters in the car. I’ve even started taking the longer route home (which is technically more fuel efficient, but adds like 10 minutes to my commute) because I don’t mind the extra time in the car. I find myself wanting to wash the dishes or fold the laundry, because I can have my earbuds in while I work.
I still doomscroll on YouTube shorts or Instagram reels occasionally, but that doesn’t mean I have to give up long form content like reading. They fill two entirely separate niches.
pkjqpg1h@lemmy.zip 7 hours ago