The Lack Of Deep Thinking
Short-form content like reels and TikTok has become an epidemic for our minds, systematically destroying our ability to form meaningful thoughts. We’re bombarded with vulgarity and sensational information of questionable accuracy, training our brains to collect information without effort. The sheer volume overwhelms us — our minds now automatically forget most content to make room for the next wave of stimulation.
This represents a troubling shift in how we process information. Your brain functions optimally when you select a topic, dive deep, work hard to understand it, and arrive at logical conclusions that become genuine knowledge. When you apply this knowledge repeatedly, it transforms into skill. This traditional learning process rewires your brain because it demands dedicated effort — you must integrate existing knowledge with new information and reason internally before accepting it.
The epidemic of short-form sensational content has flipped this process. Instead of deriving opinions from data, we’re consuming pre-packaged opinions directly. This leaves us with no original thoughts of our own. If you can trace a thought back to a reel you watched on Instagram, your intellectual condition is dire. You’ve become the ideal candidate for manipulation because your critical thinking faculties have atrophied.
The solution requires making your brain work hard again. Give it substantial tasks, complex ideas, and challenging problems. Push it to build a knowledge base from raw data rather than processed opinions. This is where books become invaluable. It sounds clichéd, but clichés persist because they work — just like telling someone overweight to exercise. The advice is repeated because it delivers results.
Another crucial practice is developing first-principles thinking. Start by asking fundamental questions: What am I assuming here? Where did this information originate? What makes me trust this source? If the information isn’t important, why am I consuming it?
A profound quote captures this perfectly: “A man without purpose loses himself in pleasure.” Endless scrolling does exactly this — it triggers pleasure responses without requiring any effort. Your brain learns it can access dopamine simply by opening an app, which devastates your motivation levels. You begin procrastinating endlessly and eventually become lethargic and unproductive.
Train your brain to complete difficult tasks before claiming rewards. The more you practice this, the more your brain adapts — it truly is a remarkable organ. By deliberately choosing effortful learning over passive consumption, you can restore your capacity for deep thought and meaningful engagement with ideas.