Social media has yet another viral trend to help you get off your phones. It can be aesthetic, have that ASMR video appeal, and might just help you, for real.Brain stacking is the latest social media trend You picked up your phone to check the time.
Forty minutes later, you know what a stranger ate in Seoul, which song everyone is dancing to, and have stumbled through AI-generated love stories and mysteries. And just like that, your evening is as good as gone.Ironically, digital natives also spend time watching videos about why “brain rot” content might be bad for them.
Yet, somehow, the doomscrolling continues.Now, social media users have another suggestion for spending time offline: brain stacking, where books, journals and puzzles come to the rescue. No brownie points for guessing the idea: spend a little less time scrolling.What exactly are we stacking?Think of a brain stack as a personal menu of offline activities: a novel, a Sudoku book, a journal, crosswords, Where’s Wally?, perhaps even some drawing supplies.
Keep them together and, most importantly, within reach. When you’re tempted by “just a quick Insta check”, pick up one of these instead.
On social media, creators showcase aesthetically arranged stacks as part of morning and bedtime routines, sometimes working through several activities in one sitting. Mandy Rulez is among the creators credited with popularising the trend.
Some routines stretch to around 45 minutes, but there is no compulsory timetable. The idea of brain stacking is to reach out for things that boost cognition instead of more screentime.
And it's not without its benefits. That little pile can give your mind something to work with.
As neurologist Dr Neha Kapoor previously told India Today, “Sudoku improves memory and reasoning skills, boosts concentration, stimulates the mind, aids in decision-making, and brings a sense of happiness and achievement.”Experts recommend that such activities boost cognitive functioning. And hence, it's called brain stacking because you put together a literal stack of activities that engage your mind, such as books, journals and puzzles.Rise of analogue ways to lifeThe irony of this digital first world is that everyone is chronically online, and they also want to go more offline.
Being able to be off the grid is the new kind of luxury, after all.Remember the analogue bag where people started sporting fancy totes filled with things that help you not look at the screen? It's simply another version of it that specifically focusses on enhancing brain health.
And let's be honest, how often have you heard, "ajkal mai bahut bhoolne lagi ho..."Your doomscrolling might have something to do with that. Playing crosswords, Sudoku, and reading books may help in boosting brain health.
Want to build one?Start with what you own: a half-read paperback, an old notebook and the newspaper’s puzzle page. Most importantly, it should be as reachable as your phone.
Try ten minutes after chai or before bed.A brain stack won’t automatically transform your attention span, and some days, scrolling will still win. But it might just help you re-build a hobby you thought you left in your yesteryears.- Ends