instant insight
They say you should start writing to learn more about yourself, about how writing is a tool for 'self-discovery'. I kind of doubted it (not kind of, I mean it sounds kind of pretentious) and wanted to avoid such prose. Well, it took about 12 hours after pushing "Publish" on my first post to learn something - my memory is cooked. Like scrambled eggs with bits of shell in a pan, half burnt levels of cooked.
Having spent some time thinking about what I should write about, I had a (very small) list in a paper notebook of things that I wanted to write on - mostly writing when I felt I had maybe something interesting to share. This was forced by keeping the notebook in close proximity, or failing that, storing a thought on my iPhone's trusty notes app, then moving that back to the notebook. I thought this would be a foolproof idea, and if I had an idea that I didn't write down, surely I wouldn't lose it that easily.
Well, I was out at dinner today, having pressed post on my first post about 2 hours beforehand, talking with my partner, when something we said registered in my head - something I thought would actually be a great post! I patted myself on the back, thinking this'll definitely be an interesting post. I got home, doomscrolled through reels for 5 minutes, then sat down at my PC to play some games. About 10 minutes in, I remembered I had had a post idea - but not what it was.
Truly, the brainrot had made itself clear, and I wouldn't even say I used a lot of AI or short form content. I still write design docs at work (sometimes with my friend Claude's supervision), still research credit card churning programs on reddit, still read a magazine article at night. Is it this bad?
I guess I'm going to have to come up with some kind of system (I redownloaded Obsidian and paid the sync fee), or be more spontaneous about writing down my thoughts. I promise the next post will be a bit more thought out and less meta! Maybe it'll actually survive dinner.