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By releasing the song “Welcome to the Internet” in the Netflix special Inside, Bo Burnham anticipated how digital overstimulation and hyperconnectivity would shape modern screen addiction and contribute to the decline of our attention spans
Nomophobia
The term comes from combining the English words no, mobile, and phobia, referring to the “fear of being without a cellphone.” This phobia creates a constant feeling of distress at the thought of being disconnected, making it seem as though everyday life depends entirely on the device. In 2024, the University of Oxford announced “brain rot” as its Word of the Year.
Translated as “brain rot,” the term describes a decline in mental and intellectual abilities caused by excessive consumption of fast-paced, superficial, and undemanding digital content, such as short videos and endless feeds. Today, Brazil ranks among the countries with the highest screen time worldwide, with people compulsively checking notifications at increasingly short intervals.
A Forbes study found that six out of ten people in Brazil experience distress when separated from their devices. Sixty percent of Brazilians report feeling anxious when they don’t have their phones with them. The survey also found that 87% consider themselves dependent on their smartphones for everyday tasks. Excessive cellphone use, addiction to short videos, declining patience, reduced interest in longer content, and memory problems are just some of the issues that have increased since the pandemic, particularly affecting Generation Z and Generation Alpha.
This is exactly what they want to happen. Your phone was deliberately designed to be addictive: a lightweight device that holds your entire life and can solve almost any problem with just a few taps on the screen.
In the movie The Truman Show, the main character, played by Jim Carrey, lives in a fake world without knowing it. Only the people watching him are aware of the truth. Within this “world,” a huge group of people creates distractions, entertainment, stories, and anything else necessary to keep Truman unaware of reality and entertained 24 hours a day.
Your smartphone does the same thing. Algorithms generate video after video to keep you from leaving TikTok, because every second brings something new to grab your attention. You see ads for things you just searched for, recommendations for videos to watch on YouTube, and even new apps that promise not to be addictive and claim to help you overcome your addictions. What was once supposed to represent progress for society has now created problems so deep that one of the best ways to gain votes in politics is to post a short clip of someone saying something outrageous.
Spending all day scrolling through your feed in search of quick dopamine hits, using your phone while watching movies, relying on ChatGPT as a therapist, and many other habits don’t just affect your ability to enjoy entertainment. They also make it harder to participate in a long conversation, spend time with friends without checking your phone, appreciate a landscape, understand a lecture, or study a subject.
Every vibration, sound, or notification on your screen is carefully designed to create a sense of urgency and curiosity. In your brain, these alerts trigger dopamine release, directly stimulating the motivation circuit that keeps you wanting more. Our attention is like a ticket, and every platform, advertisement, algorithm, and influencer exists for a reason: to compete for it. Your ability to focus isn’t poor because you’re stupid or lazy. It’s poor because you’ve been conditioned to lose it. After all, someone who can’t even watch a one-hour movie without reaching for their phone is unlikely to take an interest in political issues.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
— George Santayana, The Life of Reason (1905).
Algorithmic manipulation and the constant stimulation of digital habits have become the perfect strategy for diverting our attention from what truly matters. It becomes much easier to ignore the genocide in Gaza when Virginia posts a picture of Maria Flor, or to turn a blind eye to the rise of the far right and troubling speeches in Congress when the day’s biggest controversy is an influencer crying over the regulation of online betting.
The more distracted, misinformed, and disconnected we become, the easier we are to manipulate and silence. In a world designed to keep us unaware, the ability to stay focused and think critically is our greatest strength and our main form of resistance. Reclaiming that ability is urgent if we want to wake up, defend our rights, and protect the people we love.