Ever get that feeling that your brain isn’t firing on all cylinders or that you need to get stuck into something to give it something to do? It’s a really specific feeling which most people are at risk of losing thanks to social media and short-form content reducing attention spans to around 8 seconds, according to recent studies. This is down from 12 seconds in 2008.
Here’s the thing: endless scrolling doesn’t leave you or your brain satisfied in the way you think it does, nor in the way your brain needs to be satisfied. You need to use it to keep your grey matter ticking over to keep your cognitive abilities thriving for now and for the long term.
It’s not about consuming more; it’s not about filling your brain with all the information, but being selective about what you choose to use your brain for.
This post is going to look at some ways you can keep your brain busy without overloading it. And honestly, it’s really simple.
Play an Online Strategy Game
Strategy games work really well, as you can immerse yourself in the problem-solving aspect of the game and give your brain a mental workout. There’s a goal, there’s structure, and you get to work through the rules to reach the endpoint. There’s something satisfying about this.
And the thing with online strategy games is they force you to think ahead, to focus on your next moves, what your competitors or other game players are doing, and you need to solve an immediate problem. This is the kind of thing your brain thrives on.
You can pick long-term games you can dip in and out of over time; it can even be Candy Crush on your phone if you want. Or you can pick games that are easily lost into 5 or 10-minute blocks, like backgammon or solitaire. There’s no right or wrong game as long as you enjoy it, and you need to think about your aim and your moves as you play.
Do a Puzzle
Puzzles sit in the same space as online strategy games, but they feel different as they slow you down. The appeal is that they consume your attention for the short window you play.
Nothing else matters except you and the problem you need to solve. You stop thinking about other things and focus on the here and now. And this is beneficial for so many people, especially if your brain feels like it has 130 tabs open all at once and you’re watching a film in there too.
You can use jigsaw puzzles, taking the time to separate the pieces and then plan your approach to complete it. You can choose logic puzzles, you can go for word puzzles, number ones, you can pick up a Rubik’s cube if you like, it’s your call.
Read Something Absorbing
Vague, sure. But that’s the thing with reading: there’s no one-size-fits-all option. What’s going to intrigue you won’t for someone else, and vice versa; that’s the beauty of it.
You need to find something to read that genuinely holds your attention and interests you. You don’t want to be reading something because other people tell you that you need to, or it’s highly regarded. If it isn’t appealing, you won’t enjoy it, and it won’t have the effect you’re looking for.
You can choose to read books, investigative journalism, comics, essays, memoirs, niche topics and research articles. It doesn’t matter, it can be physical books, digital articles or content, it all works. What matters isn’t the format but that you’re engaged.
And if you only have a short window of time, set a timer, read until it goes off and then pick it up when you have time, even reading for 10 minutes per day is enough to help you rebuild attention. It’s consistency, not duration, you’re aiming for.
Watch an Episode Properly
While most people agree Netflix should have a section solely of things you can have on in the background while scrolling, the point here is to not scroll. Not to put on your comfort show or movie on in the background and actually watch what is on the TV. This is something that collectively happened with the Stranger Things finale. People put the phones down and actually watched it, not half paying attention to it in the background.
Put your phone down, turn other screens off and pick one episode, be it your current favourite watch or something new. And watch it from beginning to end, and do not pick up any distractions. If you don’t enjoy it, fine, turn it off. But train your focus on the entire thing, follow the plot, get involved with the storyline and give your brain something to work through and absorb during the 30, 60 or, in the case of the Stranger Things final, 2-hour-long episode.
Learn Something
This isn’t all about enrolling in a course and completely changing your career path and metrics, but learning something new can be as simple or elaborate as you like.
You can download Duolingo and learn a new language in short blocks each day. You can watch a tutorial to learn DIY skills to fix a certain issue in your house or dive into a topic you’ve always been curious about.
What you learn isn’t actually important, like reading a book. It’s not the topics specifically, it’s what you learn from them. And light learning works best as you’re not overloading your brain. You’re giving it bite-sized new information you can retain and build upon, you’re giving it interest, something new and different and forcing it to do something entirely new. And that’s what you need.
One topic, short windows of time, one idea and following it through consistently.
Get Creative
You don’t even need to be good at it, just try. You can write, draw, sculpt, build something, edit pictures, cook something from scratch, knit, crochet, literally anything that taps into the creative aspect of your brain.
The common thread here is you’re not absorbing, but you’re producing results. It might not be perfect, and it doesn’t need to be; you simply need to do something practical and creative that you can see and hold.
And spending the time solely on this activity can help you regain focus and improve your attention span with ease while giving you that feel-good rush of actually doing something creative you enjoy. That seems like a win-win scenario all round, doesn’t it?