Trained by the Feed

AI + SOCIAL MEDIA

How AI and social media are eroding our attention and our sense of self.

We used to joke about brain rot.

Now it’s starting to feel literal.

AI-powered feeds have learned how to hold us hostage, predicting not just what we’ll click, but what will keep us from looking away.

The result isn’t entertainment anymore; it’s engineered addiction.

Social media began as connection.

Then it became performance. Today, it’s a psychological feedback loop.

It is fine-tuned by algorithms that know our impulses better than we do.

Each swipe teaches the system to refine its bait. AI has made that process frighteningly efficient.

A personalized stream of stimulation that rewards reaction over reflection.

Generative AI was supposed to unleash creativity.

Instead, it’s helping build an endless scroll of synthetic content: fake friends, auto-generated videos, AI influencers.

As one creator put it, most people use the internet in a way that destroys their own life and others. What once gave us agency now gives us anxiety.

The decay is gradual.

We lose comfort with silence, patience with depth, tolerance for boredom.

Writers fear stepping away from the screen, worried their work will vanish without constant posting.

Viewers measure worth in views. And all of us keep scrolling, hoping the next swipe feels different.

Maybe brain rot is all about surrender. The loss of authorship over what holds our attention, and who profits from it.

The algorithm isn’t evil. It’s just doing its job keeping us from doing ours.