又一篇好文来啦，请阁下细细品尝。牛津大学出版社宣布将“脑腐”（brain rot）评选为2024年年度词汇。该出版社认为，“脑腐”是“一个人精神或智力状态的衰退”，与过度投入于某种无价值或不具挑战性的工作特别是沉迷网络有关。在现代社会，我们每个人都像是被无数数字信息流裹挟着前进的旅客。我们的时间被社交媒体、短视频和无尽的通知切割成碎片，我们的注意力被各种应用程序争夺，我们变得像是为大型企业服务的一颗电池，不断地输出能量，却忘记了为自己充电。我们被困在了一个由数据和代码构成的“矩阵”中，失去了与现实世界的联系。但生活不仅仅是屏幕上的图片和虚拟的互动，生活是一个真实的、立体的、充满触感的体验。是时候打破恶性循环，重新找回生活的主动权了。 A lot of people have been feeling as if though something sinister is happening to their brains. They feel as if though their excessive use of the internet and the types of videos they watch on there is making them dumber. And this probably isn't news to anybody. It is abundantly clear that basically every social media app now has some sort of short-form content tab that you can click to. And they kind of want you to click on it because they know that you will spend a lot of time on there because of the novelty of it. And the content itself is designed to keep you watching as long as possible, by any means necessary, sometimes even by playing two videos at the same time, to keep the novelty up, to keep the dopamine flowing.很多人已经感受到自己的大脑正在发生一些危险的变化，似乎是因为过度接触互联网和观看特定类型视频，大脑正在变得愈发蠢笨。对任何人来说，这种感受并不是什么新闻。非常明显的是，如今几乎所有的社交媒体平台都设有专门的短视频区，鼓励用户去点击。这些平台之所以这样做，是因为平台知道用户会被新鲜内容吸引，从而在上面消耗大量时间。这些短视频内容的制作宗旨是尽可能延长用户的观看时间，不择手段，甚至有时会同时播放两个视频，以保持内容的新鲜感，刺激用户的多巴胺分泌。But people have really started to notice that the more they consume this content, the dumber they feel, the more useless they feel. To the point where people have now coined the term "brain rot content," insinuating that by consuming this content, your brain is rotting. It is degenerating in some way. And there's some truth to this. Studies have found that the human attention span is decreasing, to the point now where the average phone pickup lasts about 10 seconds. And that was in 2021. But people have been talking about this for a long time. I'm not saying anything new here. And the term brain rot wouldn't have been coined if nobody was talking about it.但人们开始意识到，越是消费这些内容，越觉得自己变笨、变得无用。现在，人们甚至用“脑腐内容”来形容这些，意思是这些东西看多了，脑子就像腐烂掉了一样。这种说法其实有点道理。研究显示，人的注意力越来越短，比如2021年的数据就显示，人们平均拿起手机的时间只有10秒。这个话题已经被讨论很久了，我这里说的也不是什么新发现。如果没人关注这个问题，那么“脑腐”这个词也不会被创造出来。But is it actually true? Is the modern internet landscape rotting holes in all of our brains to the point where we are just degenerate human beings now, we are zombies? Just a slave to the algorithm, prisoners to our phones. And is there nothing we can do about it? Well, of course, there's nothing you can do about it. It's over. We're doomed. Pack it up. But here's the thing. I think we're asking the wrong questions. I think society has become pretty obsessed with the idea that external forces cause them to do certain things. It's like, oh, this short-form content is now on the internet and it's there. And it's so addictive that it's making everybody just watch it, and people are getting hooked on it, and it's frying their brains. And now we're just a bunch of NPCs.但脑腐是真的吗？现代互联网真的在损害我们的大脑，让我们变成了退化的人类，变得像行尸走肉一样，只是算法的奴隶，手机的囚徒吗？难道我们对此无能为力？好吧，当然，你可能觉得无能为力。一切都完蛋了，我们没救了，只能认命。但问题在于，我觉得我们问的问题不对。我认为社会太过于关注外部因素对我们行为的影响。比如，现在互联网出现了短视频内容，它太上瘾了，大家都沉迷进去了，脑子也被搞坏了。现在我们好像都变成了游戏里的一群非玩家角色一样。But the truth is, nothing can make you do anything. You know, short-form content is inanimate. It can't make you watch it. And there are plenty of things that might be really bad for you that you are currently not tempted to go and consume.但真相是，没人能逼你做任何事。短视频是无生命的，它无法强迫你看。而且，世界上还有很多对你不好的东西，你并没有被诱惑去消费它们。Now, there is something to be said about giving smartphones to toddlers and turning them into iPad kids. But if you're watching this, then chances are you have a fully formed brain, or something close to it. And if that's the case, I want you to know that you are in full control over all of your actions in life, even though it might not seem like it at times. You know, people who have anger issues, they say, "Man, I just can't control my anger." It's like, well, you can. And a lot of people who go through rehabilitation learn that they do have control over their anger. And getting over their anger issues is about learning that they have had control. It's learning to exercise that control in a healthier way.现在，把智能手机给小孩子，让他们变成整天抱着iPad的小孩，这事儿确实值得商榷。但如果你在看这个视频，那你的大脑应该已经发育得差不多了。我想告诉你，你其实完全能控制你的一切行为，哪怕有时候看起来好像控制不了。比如那些容易生气的人会说，“哎呀，我就是控制不住自己的脾气。”但其实，你是可以控制的。很多接受情绪管理训练的人最后都意识到，他们是可以控制自己的脾气的。解决脾气问题，其实就是学会意识到自己一直都有控制权，然后学会用更健康的方式来运用这种控制力。Now, this leads me to what I believe is the actual brain rot in society. There is a pervasive sentiment going on right now, and I don't know how long it's been going on for. I suspect a lot longer than social media has been around. And it's this parasitic idea that you are not in control over your own actions. It's this idea that the things that are around you in your environment, inanimate objects, situations, can make you do things that you don't want to do. That's just not true. The real brain rot is thinking, "Oh, you know, I should be doing my work, but, you know, I'm just so addicted to my phone. And I get down this rabbit hole, and I can't stop." Or, "Once I beat my internet addiction, I will finally be a productive human being. Then I can start living the life I want. I just need to, you know, reel it in. I need to just learn how to beat this thing."这让我想到了我认为社会中真正的“脑腐”问题之所在。现在有一种普遍的情绪正在蔓延，我不知道它已经存在多久了，可能比社交媒体出现的时间还要长。这种情绪就像是寄生虫，让你觉得你控制不了自己的行为，好像周围的环境、物品、情况能让你做出你本不愿意做的事。这完全是错误的。真正脑腐的人会这样想：“我知道我应该去工作，但我就是太沉迷手机了，一玩起来就停不下来。”或者，“等我戒掉网瘾，我就能成为一个高效率的人了。然后我就可以开始过我想要的生活了。我只需要控制一下自己，学会怎么克服这个问题。”That type of belief system is a feedback loop that you will never get out of. It's subscribing to this idea of helplessness. It's determinism. It's rejecting the idea that you have free will. And when it comes to your own behaviors, a lot of the time, the ideas that you subscribe to become true for you. If you believe that you are helpless, that you're just a leaf blowing in the wind in your own life, then that will become true for you. You'll wait around for some perfect situation to line up. The stars will align perfectly, and that will make you do something that you already want to do.这种思维方式其实是个恶性循环，你很难摆脱。这种思维方式让你觉得自己无能为力，像是环境决定一切，不相信人有自由意志。很多时候，你相信什么，什么就会变成现实。如果你觉得自己无助，像是风中的一片叶子，无法控制自己的生活，那这种感觉就会成真。你就会一直等待完美的时机，等到星象出现完美的吉兆，然后你才会去做那些你本来就想做的事。You make, on average, 35,000 decisions every single day. A decision implies that there are multiple options on the table, and that you have the autonomy to actually choose from an array of options. Otherwise, it's not really a decision. Which means that you have the ability to make a different decision. Every single one of these decisions can be different. And just because certain decisions are a little bit harder or easier, or they might feel that way, doesn't mean that you don't have the option and that you don't make the decision.你每天平均要做35,000个决定。所谓决定，意味着桌上有多个选项，而你有能力从一系列选项中做出实际的选择。否则，它就不是一个真正的决定。这意味着你有能力做出不同的决定。这些决定中的每一个都可以是不同的。而且，仅仅因为某些决定可能更难或更容易，或者可能感觉很难或很容易，但并不意味着你没有选择，并不意味着你没有做出决定。So a really good example of this distortion of control is the election that just happened in the United States. I'm up here in Canada, so I have a degree of separation from the drama. So with the election, you have an outcome that shapes what it feels like to live in a certain country. And, right, the country that you live in is your environment. There are certain laws and there are certain rules, and when those laws and rules change, it can feel pretty different.美国刚结束的大选，就是控制感扭曲的典型例子。我在加拿大，所以能稍微客观点看这事。选举结果会改变你在一个国家生活的感受。你生活的国家，它的法律啊规则啊，都是你生活的一部分。一旦这些法律规则变了，生活的感受就会很不一样。But whatever the outcome of an election is, is the outcome, right? Like, you individually don't make a difference in that outcome. You only have the illusion of making a difference. You have very powerful people who lobby and control things and have all of the money and power, and they present you with this option, right? Here's your control, citizen. You can choose this candidate or this candidate. And it makes you feel like you're really making a difference. Like, "Oh, cool. I get to make a choice now.不管选举结果怎么样，结果都已经定了，不是吗？就像，你一个人其实对结果没啥影响。你只是觉得自己好像能影响结果。实际上，是那些有权有势的人在幕后操纵，他们有钱有势，然后他们给你提供几个选项，对吧？这是你作为公民的选择权。你可以选这个候选人或者那个候选人。这让你觉得自己好像真的能改变什么。就像，“哦，不错哦，现在我能做选择了。”The fate of the country is in my hands." But it's like, no, it's not. You individually don't get to decide what the food supply is or what the border security is like. You don't make all these decisions. Like, you only have the illusion of decision. So to argue about what that decision ultimately came to, in my opinion, is really dumb. Doing that is like being involved in a poker game. You're sitting there at the poker table and the dealer hands you a card. And instead of trying to maximize the hand that you're dealt, even if it's a horrible hand, instead of trying to decide for yourself what you do when you get that hand, you don't play the game, and you argue with the dealer. You argue with everybody at the table about, like, how stupid this hand is.“国家的命运掌握在我手中。”但其实，并不是这么回事。你个人并不能决定食物供应是什么，或者边境安全如何。所有这些决定都不是你能做的。说白了，你只有决策的幻觉。所以在我看来，争论最终的决定是什么，真的很傻。这就像你参加一局扑克游戏，你坐在牌桌前，发牌员给你发了一张牌。你不是想着怎么打好手里的牌，哪怕这手牌很烂，不是决定自己要怎么出牌，而是放弃游戏，去跟发牌的人吵，去跟桌上的每个人争论这手牌有多烂。争论那个最终决定是什么，真的是非常愚蠢的。But it's like, no matter what, the hand you're dealt is the hand you're dealt. You may have an opinion, and you might know for certain what a good hand looks like, but even if you get the best hand in poker, somebody else could have a better hand, just based on the mixture of cards at the table. No matter what, ultimately, the decisions that you make will determine the outcome of the game for you. You have far less control over the hand you're dealt than you think you do, and you have way more control over how you play that hand than you've been led to believe.意思就是说，不管你拿到什么牌，那都是你的牌。你可能有自己的见解，知道什么是好牌，但就算你手里的牌再好，别人也可能有比你更好的牌，这全看桌上的牌怎么组合。不管怎样，最后你游戏里的结果，是由你自己的决定来决定的。你对自己拿到的牌能控制的并不多，但你怎么打这手牌，你能控制的比你想象的要多。Okay, so now that you're equipped with the mindset that will help you counteract brain rot, which I believe is the most important step, what are some practical ways that you can actually remember this mindset and stay on track so that you can start attacking life instead of being a passenger who just consumes stupid videos all day and regrets it later?好的，你现在已经具备了对抗“脑腐”的心态，我认为这是最重要的一步。那么，有哪些实际的方法能让你记住这种心态并保持正轨，这样你就可以开始积极面对生活，而不是成为一个整天只是消费无聊视频、事后又悔恨不已的旅客呢？Well, the number one thing that you can do is be conscious of this thing that I call mental posture, and structure your day with that in mind. So what the hell am I talking about? So everybody kind of already instinctually feels what I mean when I say mental posture. You know when you're kind of consuming content all day? Say you're down a YouTube rabbit hole. It feels like almost mentally your brain itself is lounging back and you're scrolling content, and you have this sort of passive mindset. You know, you want things to entertain you, you want things to affect you, and you don't really want to do anything.最重要的一点，就是要意识到我所说的“心理姿态”这个概念，并根据这个概念来安排你的日常生活。那么我到底在说啥呢？当我提到“心理姿态”的时候，大家应该都能在直觉上理解我的意思。比如你整天都在刷视频，比如你在YouTube上越看越起劲，感觉上你的大脑也在放松，你只是在那里刷啊刷，你的心态很被动。你希望视频能逗你开心，能触动你，但你并不想主动去做点什么。The goal here isn't to be a perfect human being. It's to feel as if though that you're doing a better job of being a person, the person that you want to be. So what I've done is I've really made sure to structure my day so that I am starting the first half of the day with a more aggressive and proactive mental posture. And it's really hard to get into that framework if the first part of your day is riddled with this sort of passive mental posture. Which means don't start your day by getting into this YouTube rabbit hole. Don't start your day by being a passenger and a consumer of things. And you do that by just doing nothing really, right? Instead of going on your phone, don't go on your phone. It's that simple. Go get your coffee or whatever you want to do. Start your day off slow, with very little stimulation, and start thinking about the things you want to do that day.我们的目标不是要变成一个完美的圣人，而是要让自己觉得在变得更好，成为自己想成为的那种人。所以我做的就是确保我一天的安排能让我早上一开始就有一个积极主动的心态。如果你一天的开始是被动消极的，那是很难进入积极状态的。也就是说，别一起床就刷YouTube，别一开始就只是被动地消费内容。你只需要停止那些无关紧要的事情。你要做的就是别一没事就玩手机，就这么简单。你可以去喝杯咖啡或者做点别的什么。慢慢开始你的一天，不要太多刺激，开始想想你今天想要做的事情。And I think, naturally, your motivation kicks in if you don't flood it with consumption. If you have absolutely no stimulation except the delicious cup of coffee that you have and the sound of the rain hitting the window, then your imagination will actually have time to breathe. You'll think, "Oh." You know, maybe you have to go to work. I think most people have to go to work. But it's like, okay, how do I want this work day to go? You start thinking of ways that you can play your poker hand to the best of your ability. You know, what hand am I gonna be dealt today? And how can I play that hand better?我觉得，如果你不让自己被各种消费信息淹没，你的动力自然而然就会激发出来。如果你周围没什么干扰，只有手里那杯好喝的咖啡和窗外的雨声，那你的想象力就有空间去发挥。你可能就会想，“哦。”你知道，可能你得去上班。我觉得大多数人还是得去上班的。但关键是，你要怎么规划你的工作日？你开始思考怎么能尽可能地发挥好，就像打扑克一样，你会想，今天我手里会是什么牌？我怎么能更好地打这手牌？Whereas if you start the day and you, you know, for the first hour of the day before you go to work, you're just in this YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels binge, then you're just gonna start that day off being affected by things. You have this mental posture of passivity, and you're not going to attack life and mold it to your will.如果你一天的开始，在上班前的一个小时，是狂刷YouTube短视频或者Instagram的信息流，你就会受到这些东西的影响。你会有一种被动的心态，不会主动去掌控生活，让生活按照你的意愿去发展。And the second thing you can do is to eliminate things that pull you into this habit of consumerism. One of the most useful things that you can do is, A, delete stupid apps from your phone that you waste a lot of time on, number one. You know, I'm a chronic Instagram deleter. I'll download TikTok, like, once every two months when somebody sends me a TikTok and I have to react to it or respond to it. And TikTok does that stupid thing where it makes you make an account or something. I don't know. Just delete stuff that you don't want on your phone. It sounds obvious, but a lot of people don't do it. They just have all these time-wasting apps on their phone, and they expect that they won't click on it one day. You don't have to delete your account, although that's what I did. And you'll probably get there, to be honest. But just delete the app.第二招就是消除那些让你陷入消费主义习惯的东西。特别管用的一个方法是，首先，删掉你手机上那些你成天浪费时间的没用应用。比如说，我经常删Instagram。我大概每两个月才下载一次TikTok，就为了回复别人发给我的TikTok视频。TikTok非要你注册个账号什么的，我也搞不懂。反正就是删掉那些你手机上不想要的东西。听起来很简单，但很多人就是不这么做。他们手机上一堆浪费时间的应用，还指望自己哪天能忍住不点。你不必非得注销账户，我是这么做的，不过你可能最后也会这样。但至少先从删掉应用开始吧。And then, secondly, go into the settings of your phone and disable like 99% of all of your notifications for things. What do you really need to be notified about other than somebody sending you a text message directly or receiving a phone call? You don't need Adobe PDF scanner texting you and causing a phone pickup. Adobe PDF Scanner, what the (phone trills)? So do a serious vetting of your phone, making sure that you are reducing phone pickups that will pull you out of being a proactive person in your life and back into being this backseat driver.其次，第二件事，就是去你手机的设置里，把99%的通知都关掉。除了有人直接给你发消息或者打电话，你还需要被通知啥呢？你不需要Adobe PDF扫描器给你发消息，让你不得不拿起手机。Adobe PDF扫描器，这都啥玩意儿？所以，好好清理一下你的手机通知，别让这些无关紧要的东西，把你从主动掌控生活的人变成一个光会被动反应的人。And the third thing I would say is do as many things as you can that make you present. You know, I play hockey, I go to the gym. These things kind of pull you into the present moment, and it gets you in the habit of actually doing things and moving things in space and time and contributing to the world physically. And these things can be things that you genuinely enjoy doing. You know, these are nice moments where you're not a mere battery for a giant corporate oligarchy. These are moments where you break free of "The Matrix" and you're a real person in the real world doing real things. Maximize the time in your life where you're doing stuff like that, even if you're going for a walk or grabbing coffee with a friend. Be a person in the world. The internet isn't real. It's kind of just like pictures on a screen. So stop looking at pictures on a screen so much and go and live the life that you actually wanna live.第三件事是：尽可能多做让你专注当下的事情。比如，我打曲棍球，我去健身房。这些活动会让你进入当下时刻，并让你养成实际做事、在空间和时间中移动事物、为世界做出物理贡献的习惯。选那些你真正享受的事情来做。在这些美好的时刻，你不再是一个为大型企业寡头服务的“电池”，这些时刻你打破了“矩阵”，而是真正活在现实世界里的人。尽量多找时间做这样的事情，哪怕就是散散步或者和朋友喝喝咖啡。要活在现实世界里。互联网那东西不是真的，它就是屏幕上的一些图片。所以不要再那么频繁地看屏幕上的图片，去真正过你想过的生活吧。By Better Ideas翻译：良哥