From Ant-Watching to TikTok Addiction: The Real Reason Nothing Excites Us Anymore

Boredom.

What's the cause of it? Is our life not interesting enough anymore? Aren't there enough things to do? Are we just at a stage in our lives where nothing feels meaningful?

No—it's that our threshold for what's exciting has increased.

Back in university when I was studying psychology, we were taught the definition of a drug as any substance that, when taken into the body, changes how the body or mind works. Strictly speaking, this includes things like caffeine and sugar—substances we consume daily.

When we consume these in excess, they give us a dopamine spike. They act like stimulants. They directly tell the brain: MORE.

These natural instincts helped in ancient times when substances like these were scarce. They drove humans to seek them out—to a certain extent, the same goes for fats. But these days, we have them in such abundance that we have to consciously reduce our consumption. We've altered the world we live in so much that evolution hasn't kept up to adapt us properly to the modern environment.

Compare this to other forms of dopamine alterations through physical entertainment.

In Ancient Greece, the Olympics were the main form of "entertainment" that brought out the best in athletes, who performed the most amazing feats using nothing but their bodies. The ancient Romans had their gladiators to keep citizens entertained. Even the Victorians in the 1800s had circuses travelling around with exotic animals and daring acts.

Fast forward to the 20th century: we had media delivered straight to movie theatres, then closer to home via TV, then the internet, and now mobile phones that fit right in our hands.

Accessibility to entertainment has become so easy that anyone can get immediate stimulation within seconds through just a few clicks and swipes on their phone.

What has this done to our minds? Just as one builds tolerance to alcohol through frequent consumption, we have increased our tolerance to stimulants to the point that a single dancing video no longer spikes our dopamine the way it might have in ancestral times. We have to swipe through multiple videos; every few seconds the scene must change, something new must happen—or we'll swipe away.

Because of that habit, content creators have adapted to meet "customer demands", producing quicker and quicker high-"dopamine-per-second" content to keep users on their videos just a few seconds longer. That's their KPI.

All of this has led to what we call brain rot. Our minds are now so wired for instant dopamine spikes that we can no longer tolerate anything that doesn't move or change for more than a few seconds.

Gone are the quiet joys: nature walks, gardening, bird watching, sailing… all pushed aside.

We don't have to look far for proof. Just think about the last time you sat down and were thoroughly engrossed in a book, eagerly flipping to the next page to find out what happens. Even when watching movies today, we skip ahead the moment a scene feels "boring". We no longer have the patience to appreciate the deep meaning behind each scene, the careful setup, the building suspense.

I used to watch ants carry pieces of breadcrumbs from one end of the garden to the other—and that would be my whole afternoon. I would stare at a candle and watch its flame dance. I would watch the shadow move millimetre by millimetre as the sun rose. It’s actually not far off from watching paint dry. But because of these habits, I developed the curiosity needed at work to keep innovating.

That is not the world our Gen Z is living in right now. Every job they take doesn't deliver the dopamine spike they've become accustomed to from their mobile phones. They get bored so easily and so quickly that they struggle to do anything productive or contribute to society. Meanwhile, Gen Ys and Gen Xs are grinding harder than ever to compensate for Gen Z's quick boredom and low productivity—while even many baby boomers are delaying retirement or returning to work just to prop up the economy.

How will Gen Z feed themselves once that support runs out? How will they produce anything of value to sustain their generation when everyone is just chasing instant gratification? What will they need to do to stop this rot?

Discipline.

Just like previous generations resisted drugs and alcohol, we need to impose similar constraints on these digital stimulants ourselves. We need to see that this is a necessary step to improve our lives. Less is better.

We need to cultivate that habit in the next generation. The ability to be easily amused is crucial—it keeps our interest sustained long enough to produce anything of real value.

Fake it till you make it: put your phone away. Go to a balcony and pretend you enjoy watching the sunset. Go to your nearest park, squat down, and look for the tiniest animal you can find. Follow it and see where it leads you. Go to a mall, sit on a bench, and just watch people walk by. Imagine what kind of day they’re having. Eventually, you’ll reverse the sense of boredom into inspiration.

Be alone with your thoughts. Dial back to the time you first fell in love, when you fell out of it, the last regret you carried, the last achievement that made you proud. Actually laugh out loud when you remember something funny—don’t just type “LOL” without ever making a sound. Talk to yourself if you have to. These moments of introspection can help us become comfortable with ourselves and our own thoughts. Eventually, these behaviours will help break the reliance on constant phone stimulation.

Turn off those notifications—we don't need to be alerted every time someone likes our picture. Turn off that blinking light on the front of your phone too. We need to be the ones who decide when we look at our phones, not the other way around.

There will be a withdrawal period where it feels extremely uncomfortable. But once you get through it, the world starts to feel nice again.