“Gen Z, Fight Brain Rot”
02-06-25
Emma Cockley, WBL Assistant to the Director
Although the directed audience for this week’s blog may be a tad younger than the primary demographic of YBL, Luke Simon’s exhortation in his recent editorial for The Gospel Coalition, “Gen Z, Fight Brain Rot,” is applicable for all generations.
In our current era that has become overrun by technology, one can easily spend hours of tedious idleness scrolling endlessly on social media sites. I, admittedly and embarrassingly, as a member of Gen-Z have easily fallen into this trap, succumbing to the rush of dopamine-inducing, instantly gratifying entertainment promised by my phone.
While the diseases of “doom scrolling” and “brain rot” fester within my generation, these maladies are perhaps ubiquitous to anyone- young or not so young- who owns a phone and has access to video and image-based platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. Having been enchanted by all our phones offer, we are frequently disenchanted by all else- particularly the slow and time-consuming practice of reading.
In his timely and practical article, Luke Simons reminds us of the importance of reading, especially as Christians! In opposition to the immediate gratification, emotional stimulation, and perpetual entertainment our phones teach us to demand, reading cultivates the opposite. Reading fosters the virtue of patience, builds critical thinking, and introduces us to complex ideas that require thought and action- not just scrolling and inaction.
Read what Luke Simons offers as the antidote to “doom scrolling” and “brain rot” today.