Ask HN: How are you preventing brainrot? Hey there, full time software engineer of around 6 years here (post-grad). I’m using Claude Code half of the day now at work, I just can’t keep up with my team if I were to stop coding with AI. I’m more “productive” but my brain feels less sharp and am curious how others are staying sharp, I guess I just need to allocate time to learning new things again but wondering how others are dealing with this. Thanks! |
- Going for a walk at least 1h a day
- Sitting 20min first thing in the morning in sun doing absolutely nothing
- Working out every day, even if just doing some pullups or pushups
- Trying to only use social media for work, not for pleasure
- Talking to AI (Claude) while Claude Code is running in different session, about topics that are interesting to me
I spent about 6-8h online every day on average
Hope it's helpful
Kinda works. Helps if you enjoy testing unusual ideas.
It also feels like another form of brain rot… it’s like arguing online, but worse, since I know for a fact it’s just a bot on the other end.
I’ve tried making training content for topics I know well, and LLMs will leave out very important information or write long pages about irrelevant content. The dangerous part is that it all looks and reads plausibly.
I try not to lead it to my preferred conclusion.
Bad info can be mitigated by asking for human sources and citations.
Make the bot work for you.
Most developers cannot do this, especially when the numbers contradict favored opinions.
I still code for fun.
I write detailed specs for AI. Although I feel like this is, or is about to be, obsolete.
I read books.
I play chess.
I play words games.
I make stuff with wood and tools.
I go more places.
I cook more food.
I am not jaded about any of this. I am highly adaptable and refuse to think about myself as a victim.
I am optimistic and excited to see what the future holds. But it will require much adaptation and reflection on my identity as part of that process.
During the class in the university, I liked to take notes. I believe any bullshit on the blackboard, but if my hand has to write it in paper I have to pay attention and learn more.
My notes were horrible, so I usually discard them at the end of the semester and photocopy from someone that writes correctly. The end objective were not the notes, but my hand learning math.
The world out there is largely still there. You can get curious, read about it, join communities, ask people, practice skills and so on.
I tell it not to be confident sounding if the conclusion is not strong.
Sadly commercial models have hidden "helpful guardrails" that are not helpful and want to "balance" answers with garbage.
Its an art to steer but it can be done.