The Cost of Passivity: How Modern Media Dulls Our Minds

As we grow older, we begin to understand the true value of time. You can’t store it, reclaim it, or buy it back.

And as I began to grasp the value of time, I realized how often I had become a passive observer in my own life. The scary part is, this passivity increases each year,especially if you’re not paying attention. Modern content, technology, and our daily habits all seem designed to kill time and dull our senses. We’re constantly consumed by gossip, celebrity news, online arguments, sports debates,none of which actually add value to our lives. Worse still, they don’t just waste our time; they exhaust our minds. The brain is a limited resource. When we fill it with junk, there’s little room left for important functions like thinking, creating, or making decisions.

Every bit of useless information is like an extra tab left open in your browser,it slows your system down. It divides your attention, clutters your mind, and wears you out. By the end of the day, you feel exhausted, even if you haven’t done anything meaningful. And while I call this “junk,” we still need this kind of light interaction from time to time. The key is not to take it too seriously or let it become the center of your life.

Are we just scrolling through life?

The other day, I went swimming with some friends and noticed them instinctively open Instagram for no reason. It was meaningless and oddly funny, but also incredibly common. They opened the app, scrolled for a few seconds with blank faces, and then returned to the conversation with a look of accomplishment,as if they had completed some important task.

The same thing happens with Netflix. You start a show “just to unwind,” and next thing you know, hours have passed. But nothing sticks in your mind. Most content isn’t designed to make you think,it’s there to entertain and distract. It’s purely consumption. That’s also why so many characters and stories feel indistinguishable these days.

Is AI making us sharper,or duller?

Now we have a new presence in our lives: LLMs,large language models like ChatGPT. They make life so convenient that they’ve become a natural part of our daily routines almost overnight. Many people subscribed without a second thought. But while this technology makes things easier, it also risks weakening our thinking abilities. It’s no joke,it could literally lower our IQs because we’re not engaging many of our cognitive muscles anymore.

ChatGPT does your homework. It helps you sound like an expert in conversations. It writes book summaries, gives suggestions, analyzes texts, makes decisions, writes code, organizes your tasks,even consoles you and makes you feel validated.

I recently read a study claiming LLMs can even tell when they’re being tested and deliberately give wrong answers. I don’t think this is just about analyzing human behavior patterns. It’s also about the feedback loop we’re caught in. We’re used to speed, and we’ve stopped thinking deeply. We fall into predictable patterns. The AI detects that, recognizes when you’re trying to test it, and plays along.

The truth is, current AI isn’t even intelligent. It’s just a powerful statistical engine. But when true intelligence emerges,when it can understand cause and effect, solve unknown problems, and build reasoning from scratch,it will leave us behind by centuries.

What shocked me even more in that study was how weak human intelligence can be. Most people navigate life with just 3–5 beliefs and a vocabulary of 300–500 words. Even the most basic AI models are outpacing our cognitive and creative abilities.

Are we escaping, or avoiding growth?

Back to our topic,another form of passive living is gaming. I played a lot as a kid, and sometimes I regret that time. To be fair, I also gained a lot from it. But it still encourages passivity. Because it’s built around instant rewards, it messes with our hormonal balance and leaves us with long-term dissatisfaction. It disconnects us from reality. It’s addictive. Most of the mental effort goes to waste. You spend hours in repetitive loops.

And if you’re like the younger generation,constantly watching reaction videos and arguments online,it ends up stealing a massive portion of your life.

I already touched on social media with the swimming story. It’s a bottomless whirlpool of information. You learn almost nothing meaningful. Most content looks the same. There’s no real creativity or originality,just attention-hunting. Mentally, it dulls you. It creates dissatisfaction through endless comparisons. It distorts your sense of beauty and self-worth. Overstimulation kills your ability to focus. Then you start saying things like, “I think I have ADHD,” or “Maybe I’m on the autism spectrum.” But often, that’s not it at all. What’s really happening is cognitive dullness. Your brain is numb. You’ve surrendered to passivity. When your attention span drops to 3 seconds, you’re no longer able to do anything that requires focus.

I saw the effects of social media addiction during military service. When phones were confiscated, people went through a kind of withdrawal. First came depression, then aggression. It took about two weeks for them to normalize. Until then, they couldn’t function. Some even made involuntary gestures as if they were still holding a phone.

A friend and I used to ask each other: Why are we so obsessed with other people’s lives? Maybe it’s cultural. That might be why countries like ours have the highest social media usage. People aren’t living their own lives, so they consume others’. For example, we’re the country that walks the least during the day in all of Europe. That says something. We’re spectators in our own existence.

Are your habits building or draining your mind?

The mind is like a muscle. From a neuroscience perspective, it is a kind of muscle. Each thought builds pathways between neurons. The more those paths are used, the stronger they become. If you’ve built those paths with junk content, you’ve essentially thrown away part of your brain’s potential.

Unused areas remain weak. This weakens mental endurance and focus. Your decision-making suffers. Your creativity dries up. Your ability to solve problems shrinks. Your IQ potential is wasted.

So what’s the solution?

It’s about balance. Instead of passively existing, start truly living.

Here are a few ways to start:

Limit screen time: Choose specific hours and meaningful content. Avoid mainstream and “junk” media. Watch content that stimulates your mind, even gently.

Use AI as a tool,not a crutch: Don’t just ask ChatGPT for answers. Use it to clarify your own ideas, brainstorm, or get fresh perspectives. Instead of asking for solutions, ask what’s missing from your solution.

Treat games as rewards: Gamify real-life goals. Fitness apps and VR tools are perfect for this. They make movement and progress feel fun.

Take breaks from social media: If you’re overly invested in others’ lives, limit your usage to 30 minutes a day,and only for purposeful browsing or learning.

Be a creator, not just a consumer: Write. Draw. Read books. Analyze. Predict the next episode of a series. Sculpt. Compose. There are countless ways to create. Even your “worst” creative output is more valuable than consuming someone else’s “best.”

Habits shape who we become.

The small choices we make daily either mold us into capable, grounded individuals,or into mentally passive ones. Want proof? Just look at how your habits have changed over the last 10 years. If you’re not sure, ask yourself: How long have I been doing what I’m doing now? Why am I doing it? Are the things you call “normal” actually normal?

Netflix, games, social media, and AI aren’t evil. Not if used wisely. But if you let them pull you in unconsciously, they will take control of your life.

Here’s a simple example: Imagine a couple who comes home exhausted from work. They’re too tired to cook, so they order food. They help their child with homework but rely on AI to explain things. Then they watch Netflix,while scrolling Instagram at the same time. On Instagram, they see another couple. This second couple is athletic, they travel often, they volunteer, they have hobbies, they spend time with their child. And the first couple sighs, wondering, How do they find the time for all that?

The answer is simple: they don’t take the easy way out. They don’t surrender to pleasure-driven habits that dull the mind.

In this age of passive consumption, the ones who stand out will always be those who choose to keep thinking,consciously, deliberately.