Doomscrolling At Its Finest

Some day I will die. But I will not die with a phone in my hand. 

That is my motto for 2026. I refuse to lose myself to the six-inch iPhone 15 that is sitting in my back pocket like glue. 

Toward the end of last year, I kept spending hours and hours scrolling through my social media. It seemed that no matter how hard I tried, I just kept opening up YouTube and Instagram every few minutes. I was quite literally stuck in a neverending loop that did not seem to break. So with the start of the New Year, I decided to take it upon myself to stop the doomscrolling once and for all. 

Paying attention 

While this is not a resolution per se, I chose this action because I want to live a better life without being tied to my phone. Despite using the incredibly tiny computer in my pocket, I physically felt myself trekking backwards instead of moving forward. I was so attached to my phone that at one point, I swear I became dependent on checking the invisible notifications that never came. Luckily, before the end of the year, I got the answer that I was desperately craving.

Deep in a rabbit hole of scrolling through Youtube one night, I came across a four-minute video of a creator detailing how they plan to not lose their brain in 2026. Just by paying attention for those four minutes, I actually regained the courage to put my phone down and delete what I no longer needed. 

You don’t own me

Now that we are already approaching the slow yet heavy beginning of this new year, I truly believe that I am taking the right amount of steps to regain my own, very personal sense of worth. I will no longer be controlled by a screen and altered by what is happening to my friends, family, and others on the other side of social media. I am so much more than someone who can get addicted to scrolling. Just by taking part in this needed lifestyle change, I can already notice that my attention span is slowly returning to me. My creativity as a writer still comes and goes as the constant struggle with writer’s block will truly never end, but I am continuing the pursuit. That is what matters. 

Escargot

In order to break the brain rot, I am also making sure to get back into reading. Even if I end up reading five pages a day, that doesn’t matter to me. I don’t care if I am considered a “slow reader.” I am reading despite my pace matching that of a snail. 

I know that I am staying true to my word because, for me, I can find more inspiration and draw countless amounts of creativity from a good physical book in my hands than from a device made from a battery and glass. That is worth more than anything else. Nothing can limit my infinite love of reading. 

Even in a world that is becoming illiterate, I will remain educated and constant. 

With reading (no matter the amount) I truly feel free and ready to take on any form of writing assignment there might be. Whether it’s reviewing a friend’s essay, proofreading stanzas of poetry from previous schoolwork, or even composing fan fiction, a phone can never replace a person’s creativity. 

Surrounded

If I had the choice, I would rather die surrounded by my book collection and the dust bunnies they create. I want to be tied to the books that made me, not the infinite digital footprint filled with a pile of fandoms, character edits, and a questionable and maybe concerning amount of screen time. 

I want my coffin to be filled with nothing but Brontë, works from the Romantic era, and the spice-filled book, “Dune,” that controlled my life when I was 14. I stand by these books that made me into the person and writer I am, not the cringey teen “young adult” books that are now being filled with unrealistic agendas and AI prompts. (Although the Fourth Wing franchise is fantastic). I was raised on “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and later in my teenage years, the “Interview with the Vampire” trilogy. As a matter of fact, I just purchased two editions of William Blake’s poetry and the uncensored version of “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” Going forward, I will remain an old soul classic lover who owns more banned books than I know what to do with. 

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Thank you to all of my real life friends who seem to be fighting the same tug of war between brainrot and anti-brainrot that I am. 

It’s nice to know that there are others who want their mind back.