Nowadays, getting online content is one of the easiest things. Just open any social media app and you will get endless videos, memes, and shorts as if they were waiting for you. Some of it is fun and harmless like things that help us relax or teach us something useful. But honestly, a lot of it is pure trash and meaningless. The worst part is that we keep dumping it straight into our brains without pausing to think. Slowly it starts shaping the way we think, talk, and act. These platforms aren’t giving you random content. They have got crazy smart algorithms and use AI that monitors what we like, what we watch, what makes us click, and then they keep showing more of the same content. It’s like they know exactly what will grab our attention and they keep feeding it to us. Before we know it, we are stuck in this loop where we can’t stop scrolling. It’s honestly scary how good they are at this (with help from AI).
Our mind is so innocent that it soaks up whatever we feed it. If we keep watching videos of people smoking and acting cool, we will eventually start thinking smoking is cool and start mimicking them. If we see people using bad language and being rude, guess what? We will start talking the same way. I have seen people who were normal, start behaving in an unusual way based on the content they consume. I’ll be honest that I too got influenced once after watching the Mirzapur series. The constant abusive language in it slowly started affecting me and before I knew it, I had started using those words in my daily conversations. Our brain does not just watch but also mimics. Similarly, there are prank videos of people tricking or hurting others for laughs. Some viewers start copying this behavior as they think it is funny but end up hurting others.
One of the biggest issues that have emerged is the habit of watching short videos. Some of these are good, creative and educational. However, most of them are nonsensical. The real problem is that our brains are getting used to processing only such short content and our minds are getting trained to remember this kind of information. Thus, when it comes to longer things like watching a full movie, reading an article, or even listening in class, we get bored fast. Slowly, this is making it harder to focus on important stuff. We can’t remember things properly, and most importantly we lose patience, and our thinking and problem-solving skills start getting weaker. This constant useless data we keep feeding our brains is messing up our mental health too. We start comparing our real, messy lives to the fake, perfect ones we see online, and that makes us feel depressed. Nobody shows their failures, so it feels like everyone else has their life sorted except us and that creates a lot of pressure. On top of that, it also ruins our sleep schedule. How many times have we stayed up till 2 or 3 AM just scrolling?? Then we wake up the next day completely tired and drained, wondering why we feel so low.
It also affects relationships. We sit in the same room with family or friends but stare at our phones instead of interacting with them. Real conversations feel boring compared to the constant excitement on social media content. And the worst part is that our self-worth is now tied to likes and comments by people we do not know. If we don’t get enough engagement, we feel bad about ourselves. This is scary if we think about it. And the biggest danger is that we are slowly losing patience. Everything has to be instant and short. However, real life doesn’t work like that. It takes time to build things. Success takes effort. Relationships need work. If we keep training our brains to want shortcuts, we are going to suffer when real life demands consistency and patience.
Social media does have some good stuff. It is important we are mindful about what we consume. These platforms are built to make money by keeping us addicted. It’s on us to take back control. Choose content that adds value, makes you smarter, or at least keeps you genuinely happy. Because in the long run, what you feed your brain is what you become. Rigzen Norbu
By Rigzen Norbu
Rigzen Norbu (Kargyam Chibra) is pursuing an M.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.