How To Stop Getting Dumber

Summary

Podcast Summary: Business School with Sharran Srivatsaa

Episode: How To Stop Getting Dumber
Release Date: February 3, 2026
Host: Sharran Srivatsaa

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Sharran Srivatsaa tackles the pressing concern that "humans are getting dumber," not just in theory but as a reality supported by research and observable trends. As a father and business leader, Sharran shares his personal anxieties about this trend, especially for the younger generation, and lays out five specific, actionable strategies to protect yourself—and those you care about—from the cognitive decline he observes all around. His playbook covers digital habits, the use and misuse of AI, influencer culture, content creation, and the need to redefine entertainment and embrace reflective writing.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Reduce Short-Form Content Consumption ([02:10]-[06:14])

• Problem: Short-form content (social media, quick videos) trains our brains to reset constantly, ruining our ability to concentrate, think deeply, and emotionally regulate.
• Personal Experience: Sharran found that even 15-30 minutes of doom-scrolling a day made his "brain mush" and diminished his capacity for deep work and meaningful conversations.
• Strategies:
  • Limit short-form content to 15 minutes per day.
  • Prioritize long-form content: podcasts, full articles, or videos.
  • Use app blockers like “One Sec” to introduce friction and mindfulness into opening distraction apps—forcing a deep breath and displaying usage count.
  • Apply these limits at home, especially with children, noting visible behavioral changes post-device use.
• Quote:

  “If I would watch short form video and then try to, you know, read something I could barely read because my brain was just mush.” (03:08)

• Parenting Hack: Build a routine pause after device use before engaging with kids because their brains are dysregulated post-screen. ([05:59])

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2. Be Mindful About What You Outsource to AI ([06:29]-[10:48])

• Problem: Over-reliance on AI for idea generation and content creation makes personal thinking weaker and lazier.
• Personal Shift:
  • Now always writes his own first drafts—does not let AI shape initial ideas.
  • Uses AI to point out unclear logic, missing steps, or broken assumptions—treating AI as an “editor” or “critique partner” instead of a ghostwriter.
  • Uses voice-to-AI tools (Whisper Flow) to capture and clarify his thoughts while still preserving his authentic voice.
• Emerging Issue: The proliferation of “AI slop” on platforms like LinkedIn, diminishing the value of genuine, well-thought-out content.
• Quote:

  “I was kind of disgusted by my own, I don't know, intellectual laziness, if you will.” (07:27)

  "Let AI start to point out the logical holes...you almost have like a writing coach or a thinking coach right beside you." (10:32)

• Actionable: Before asking AI to rewrite, have it identify issues with your logic or assumptions.

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3. Stop Taking Advice from Influencers ([10:48]-[17:18])

• Problem: Too many influencers share advice on topics they know little about; many are skilled at creating content, not practicing it.
• Personal Insight: As an advisor to major influencers, Sharran has seen firsthand how often advice is given without expertise, often simply reading trending scripts prepared by their teams.
• Assessment Criteria:
  • Look at what a person has actually done, not just how they present.
  • Ask: “Would I want to swap lives with this person?”
  • Do independent research on important topics rather than taking influencer advice at face value.
• Disturbing Trend: Influencers follow trends for views, not accuracy—some create content on hot topics like LLCs or tax breaks without any experience or understanding.
• Quote:

  “Influencers are in the business of getting views. There is nothing else that they care about...That is the influencer model, right?” (14:54)

  “Just because you're famous doesn't mean you have the right and competence to give out, you know, money advice or relationship advice or whatever.” (13:22)

• Cautionary Tale: References specific “hot” financial trends being promoted inaccurately due to behind-the-scenes content machinery.

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4. Flip the Creation-to-Consumption Ratio ([17:18]-[19:13])

• Problem: We become passive information absorbers, dulling our brains.
• Action:
  • Make content creation (writing, drawing, talking through ideas, brainstorming) a higher priority than consumption.
  • Use AI talk-to-text apps for ideation to lower the friction of getting ideas out.
• Result: Enhanced end-of-day satisfaction, sharper thinking, and a more rewarding personal and professional life.
• Quote:

  “I have noticed that I feel way better at the end of the day where I have created more than I've consumed.” (18:48)

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5. Rethink What Entertainment Means ([19:13]-[22:14])

• Problem: Fun is equated with fast, addictive, digital content; screens become the default source of pleasure—leading to restless bodies, mushy minds, and deteriorating human connection.
• Personal/Family Experiment:
  • Replacing short-form scrolling with long-form video or TV in moments of exhaustion—a less harmful but still engaging shift.
  • Using quiz apps or interactive games with kids in the car or at meals, fostering conversation and curiosity.
  • Accepting that eliminating screens entirely isn’t realistic, but scaling back their central role is vital.
• Quote:

  “I'd be lying if I told you that, oh yeah, look at me, I quit cold turkey. I did not.” (20:18)

  “If you ask my children, when they're in the car with me, we turn on Grok and we do a quiz or...play games when we're at dinner...I try really hard to get my kids to interact.” (21:53)

• Takeaway: Replace “bad” habits with “less bad” habits, and gradually redefine how you and your family relate to entertainment.

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The Ultimate Antidote: Embrace Daily Reflective Writing ([22:14]-[25:27])

• Practice: Write every single day—an essay, memo, or strategy draft—on anything that piques your curiosity or needs clarification.
  • Example: When his son asked about the Berlin Wall, Sharran researched and wrote a 10–15-sentence essay to clarify and internalize the knowledge.
  • Enrolled his own son in a writing academy, reinforcing the connection between clear thought and strong writing.
• Philosophy:
  • Writing gives structure to scattered thoughts and builds intellectual discipline—a tradition rooted in ancient Greek philosophy.
  • The real reason most people find writing hard is not a writing deficiency but a thinking deficiency.
• Quote:

  “There is something magical about taking scattered thoughts and giving them structure...Because when you read it, you're going to say, that's crap, and you'll be ashamed. You'd be embarrassed. So you will reorganize your thoughts.” (23:14)

  “The reason writing is difficult for people is because they don't know how to think. If you can think clearly, writing is very easy.” (24:29)

• Rule:

  “I gave myself a rule about six months ago. I write something every day...that one thing keeps my thinking sharp. It helps me stay more present with my kids.” (24:07)

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Summary of The Five Strategies ([25:14])

1. Reduce short-form content consumption.
2. Change what you outsource to AI; use it as a logical critique partner, not as a creator.
3. Stop taking advice from influencers; do your own research.
4. Flip the ratio: create more than you consume.
5. Rethink entertainment—for yourself and your household.

Bonus: Write daily to organize your mind, reinforce clear thinking, and build intellectual defenses against a world trending toward distraction and superficiality.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “While it is not your fault, it is your problem.” —Sharran Srivatsaa ([00:11])
• “Short form content trains our brain to just reset every 30 to 60 seconds constantly...our minds just go from one cat video to another.” ([02:21])
• “I just put the system in place so that I don’t need willpower to control it.” ([05:30])
• “There’s so much AI slop out there, it’s crazy.” ([09:41])
• “You have to realize who is who...there are way more people that are good at making videos than have actually done the thing.” ([12:32])
• “If I want to bang a nail, I go get the hammer. I bang the nail. I put the hammer back...I don’t scroll for massive entertainment anymore.” ([18:26])
• “Screens are still there, but it’s no longer the center of what we call fun.” ([21:46])
• “When you can write, you just conquer the world.” ([25:08])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:10 – Reducing short-form content consumption
• 06:29 – Changing your relationship with AI
• 10:48 – Being skeptical about influencer advice
• 17:18 – Shifting to content creation
• 19:13 – Redefining entertainment and presence
• 22:14 – The power and practice of daily writing
• 25:14 – Recap of the five strategies

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Final Takeaway

Sharran’s episode is a frank, tactical guide to fighting the tide of mental laziness, digital distraction, and the commodification of “dumbed-down” content habits. The central theme: Regulate your information diet, use tech responsibly, demand evidence (not just personality) from those you learn from, and above all—write daily to bring order to your thoughts.

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For further resources and playbooks:
Visit Sharran.com and MyNextBillion.com as mentioned at the end of the show.

Transcript

[A]

Hey, this is Sharan Srivatsa.

[B]

Welcome back to the Business School podcast. And in this episode, I'm going to tell you about how to stop getting dumber.

[A]

By the way, it's happening all around us. There is research to prove that humans are actually getting dumber.

[B]

So while it is not your fault, it is your problem. So I'm going to give you five ways to stop getting dumber. I'm going to break it all down step by step, starting right now.

[C]

One thing is for certain, just because it's tried and true doesn't mean it's working right now. So the big question is this. Where can you learn what is working right now? The strategies, the tactics, the psychology, and the exact how to. How to grow your business, how to blow up your personal brand and supercharge your personal growth. That is the question. And this podcast will give you the answer. My name is Sharan Srivatha and welcome to Business School.

[B]

I cannot believe I'm saying this, but I really believe that humans are getting dumber.

[A]

I will tell you this specifically. People are finding it hard because it's so easy to get distracted. You easily just pull out your phone and you want to do something that the pings, bings and dings make it very hard to concentrate. Forget reason that we just have outsourced to AI or problem solving, that we just try to take a picture and have AI answer it or just look it up on Google. I really don't think this is a hypothetical question that is discussed in random journals like the Harvard Business Review or Forbes anymore. Or we talk about it in a shishi dinner party. I really think that there are so. There's actually so much research that makes it insanely clear that humans are getting dumber. And I will tell you this, I'll tell you what scares me the most, that it's even more true for young people. And as a father, this is one.

[B]

Of my biggest worries for my children.

[A]

That the current environment is making us dumber. And so I just thought that, well, what can I do about it? And if I'm going to do something about it, I should probably tell you about it too. So I have five things that I'm actively doing, both for myself, my family and my team, if they would listen.

[B]

To it, on how we can get dumber. Let me break it down exactly what those five things are. So number one, reduce short form content.

[A]

Just short form consumption. That is just reduce consuming short form content. I will tell you that short form content trains our brain to just reset every 30 to 60 seconds constantly. And you have one random clip that leads to another random clip. And our minds just go from one cat video to another how to make money online video to another celebrity video to another, you know, propaganda video to a political video to a sports video. It has to reset every single time. The neurons have to fire every single time. Can you imagine a movie that is just a bunch of short form clips? There's a reason why they don't do that because it doesn't allow us any kind of emotional control and it makes us feel deeply unregulated. I will tell you, after a while it becomes so hard that you, you can't even follow anything at all, which is why you're in this doom scrolling malaise most of the time. I honestly noticed this and for myself, if I would watch short form video and then try to, you know, read something I could barely read because my brain was just mush, it would be so hard for me to do any deep work. I realized that if I had a.

[B]

Deep work block, you know, and I.

[A]

Needed to do something important in the morning and I'd set that up, I will do whatever it takes to stay away from short form content completely. Because as soon as I'm in that zone, it's just very hard for me to do any kind of deep work. And I will tell you that it's also just have or after stopping a lot of short form videos, it is helped me stay focused in conversations. Like my son will be talking to me and I just get distracted and I'm like, what is wrong with me? I know that I'm getting distracted, but I can't even bring myself back. So what am I kind of doing.

[B]

About all of this?

[A]

So the first thing is I'm keeping short form content to one literally small window per day. I've given myself 15 minutes a day to look at short form content. Sometimes I follow it, sometimes I do a second batch of 15. You may think this is crazy, but I have gone maybe like 8 to 10 weeks now where I've done less.

[B]

Than 30 minutes of short form content.

[A]

Now you may say, well, Sharon, that's a lot. It was significantly more for me. Second, I actually choose long form, so I actually rather choose a podcast or a YouTube video where I choose at least one thing longer to stay with.

[B]

If there's a chance for me to.

[A]

Read an article, I sit and read the whole article. If I can listen to a podcast, I listen to the whole podcast. Maybe I'm driving, whatever, but I don't click out of it. I want to listen to the full argument, the full thought, the full narrative, just like you're doing with me right now. And by the way, if I open an app without thinking about it, I just close it and I come back and I'll tell you how I did this. I installed a app blocker called One Sec, I think. And all it does is when you click on the app, it makes you. It doesn't load it right away. It makes you take like a deep.

[B]

Breath for two seconds, and then it asks you if you really want to open the app.

[A]

I will tell you, there's so many.

[B]

Times where I've taken that deep breath, and I just don't want to open the app anymore.

[A]

Also, it tells you how many times.

[B]

You opened the app that day in the last 24 hours. And so sometimes I open Instagram and.

[A]

It says, this is your 24th attempt or 36th attempt opening Instagram.

[B]

And I really got an insane amount.

[A]

Of awareness to what I was actually doing. And I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of this. And so that's. This is my hack. I just put the system in place.

[B]

So that I don't need willpower to control it.

[A]

My recommendation in all of this is.

[B]

That do whatever it takes to choose long form materials over short form materials. Just try to minimize short form content for you. And if you have children or younger.

[A]

People in the house, like my daughter.

[B]

My goodness, like, I have tried so hard.

[A]

Now I'm starting to limit her time, but there we actually have a. A routine where after they're done, after.

[B]

My daughter is done being on her.

[A]

Ipad, I try not to talk to.

[B]

Her for five or 10 minutes because.

[A]

Whatever I say, she just bites my ear off. And so I've realized how much it.

[B]

Messes with your brain. All right, so number one, if I.

[A]

If I have not, that could just. That could be the pod right there.

[B]

So number one, please reduce short form content consumption.

[A]

That also, that's also why I am reducing short form content production, because I don't want to add to this slop in any way. That's why I'm doing more carousels, I'm.

[B]

Doing more writing and long form content like this.

[A]

Here's the second way, which is I've changed what I outsource to AI And I think that people are just blindly outsourcing everything to AI just like, you know, kind of call it. Five, 10 years ago, you outsourced and asked Google the answer for everything. Now they're outsourced everything. To AI And I'm also, I would say, I'm embarrassed to say that I use. And I have used AI in a way over the last year that has made my own thinking worse and own thinking weaker. Own thinking just more terrible because I've just outsourced everything to AI and oh, normally what I used to do, I used to let AI kind of create.

[B]

The first version of my ideas.

[A]

And I'd be like, oh yeah, here's the first version. You figure it out and then I'll take your angles, then I'll do something with it. And it would frustrate me in the beginning. But then I just realized I was like, hey, I'm just making it do the do do. Making it do the easy work right, or the hard work. And so the crazy part here is I was kind of disgusted by.

[B]

By my own, I don't know, intellectual laziness, if you will.

[A]

I just realized how ridiculous that was. So I made. I just decided I wouldn't do that anymore. So here's what I did. Right now I write my own first draft on things. Before I do something, I just write.

[B]

My own first draft.

[A]

It may not be perfect, but I.

[B]

Write my own first draft.

[A]

Number two, the first thing I do, I don't ask AI to make it better. I ask AI to point out any unclear logic or missing steps that has made me better. They're like, oh, you're, you know, it's. You're missing this thing or you have this assumption wrong or what have you. And that has been super helpful. And number three, the thing that I'm doing right now is that instead of just copy pasting and putting in an AI I'm using a Voice to AI tool called Whisper Whisper AI I think.

[B]

It'S called Whisper Flow. There's another tool called Willow Voice, but either are good.

[A]

I use Whisper Flow and now I just start talking to AI And I think that has been more helpful because I'm actually able to get my ideas and thoughts out as opposed to having.

[B]

AI do the work.

[A]

So instead of just outsourcing the entire thing to AI I'm actually just giving it my thinking, my context, my ideas. And at least as I talk through it, I feel like it has got a lot of me in it overall. And I think this keeps me involved in the hard and kind of meaningful part. So now I. I've started to only ask AI to kind of analyze my concepts or break down my logic or review. Is there a clean through line I ask it for?

[B]

Where are the holes in My argument.

[A]

I'm not asking AI to write for me anymore. I am asking AI to be my editor. I'm asking AI to be my critiquer, if you will. And I tell the AI, hey, ask me things like, have you considered X idea? Or have you considered this thing in this way? And that's really helpful because now it gives me the idea, then I take it and I massage it and I rework it. I know where it goes, I know if it's valuable or not. And that's been super helpful. What's the big idea here? The big idea was to have AI kind of be a support partner in my work as opposed to just like replacing my entire work product. And there's so much AI slop out there, it's crazy. And I think that, you know, I.

[B]

Wrote this in one of my predictions.

[A]

For 2026, that especially platforms like LinkedIn are going to just be filled with AI slop. And I think that's really good for.

[B]

The people who write in a human way.

[A]

I actually think it's really hard to write AI slop on Twitter because you have to spend so much time writing a two, three sentence thing that it sometimes feels, you know, ridiculously not valuable of an investment of time, but it can produce a LinkedIn post so much faster. I think that's why you see a.

[B]

Lot of this AI slop on LinkedIn.

[A]

So my, my big idea here is when you give something to AI before you ask it to rewrite it for you, ask if there's any unclear logic.

[B]

Or if there's any missing steps, or.

[A]

If there is any broken assumptions, or.

[B]

If there's a different, you know, if there's a different way of looking at it.

[A]

Let AI start to point out the logical holds and then you'll, it'll actually give you a learning algorithm, a heuristic, a way in which your thinking can get better that way. You almost have like a writing coach.

[B]

Or a thinking coach right beside you as opposed to, you know, I don't know, copywriter.

[A]

So that's kind of like my big idea. Here's big idea number three that I'm stopping to do. I, I, I know this is going.

[B]

To sound hard, and I really hope that you don't consider me an influencer, because I'm not, I am not your guru.

[A]

I would stop taking advice from influencers. I, I follow just like you. I follow a lot of people online and I often used to take a lot of people's advice at face value.

[B]

I'm like, oh, she said this and he said this.

[A]

And over time, I am not joking. I realized many opinions from most of these people are shared without much real experience behind them at all. And I'll tell you why. I have been an advisor to some.

[B]

Of the biggest influencers in the world.

[A]

And the number one reason why they like me as an advisor is because I don't compete with them. I am not a threat to them. Like, two of the biggest influencers are not going to help each other. They may talk smack, but they're not going to help each other. They're not going to open up their books, they're not going to open up their business and show me stuff. And I, and, and I like it because I don't really care about the influencing component. I just care about the business component. And I actually found that there are two types of people online. One, number one, those that have actually kind of done the work and learned the thing. And they talk about the thing. Hey, I wrote this book, I learned about how to write a book, I sold a lot of copies of this book and I'm going to talk about it. That's one type of people, right? The other are just people that are good at making videos. Okay? You have to realize who is who. And I will tell you right now, right under your nose, there's way more people in the second bucket. There's way more people that are good at making videos than that have actually done the thing. And given that in today's world knowledge is ubiquitous, you don't need some influencer to tell you you know how to.

[B]

Do a 1031 exchange in real estate.

[A]

You don't need that. If you just know that there's a way to do a 1031 exchange, you can go research it. So if you see a idea somewhere.

[B]

Don'T just take it at face value.

[A]

For example, I will tell you this. I know an influencer who made some money by selling his business and then he bought real estate. And he did not even understand the basics, right? I know him, I follow him. He has generally good stuff. By the way, he did not check the numbers well, because he talks about it. He rushed into how he did it. He talks about it, he, his deal, his deals, all his deals went bad. And instead of learning from it, he just really decided that real estate itself sucks. And now he tells that story to millions of people saying that, hey, you know, I don't do real estate because real estate sucks. The craziest part is it was not got anything to do with the real estate. It was Just the fact that he did not know anything about real estate, that was the problem. And I will tell you that this whole influencer status is just rampant on the Internet because, for example, if you spend 18 months at an analyst at Goldman Sachs, it doesn't mean that you're qualified to teach people about how to buy companies, all right? It does not work that way. Just because you made a million dollars once doesn't mean you're not qualified to teach everyone how to make a million dollars. And like, do not. Let me get me started on influencers giving relationship advice. Like, there's a reason why I don't talk about my relationship online. Because I. Every relationship is super bio individual. It's super hard. And then everybody's like, oh yeah, you should do this with your spouse. Like, no one has any idea. And they have no. Like, it is insane. Just because you're famous doesn't mean you have the right to and, and competence to give out, you know, money advice or relationship advice or whatever. It's crazy to me and so sorry, I'm getting kind of irritated here, but just like you. So I had to kind of slow down and think about, all right, whose opinion was I actually going to listen to? And I want to tell you, like.

[B]

What I came up with.

[A]

What I came up with was, number one, I look at what they have.

[B]

Actually done, not how well they present it.

[A]

And number two, I ask if I want to swap lives with them. And number three, if the subject of the idea that they gave me is important, like a 1031 exchange, I just do my own research. I'm like, okay, cool, that was an interesting idea. Let me go do some research right now. Like, you're like tron. What has all this got to do with being dumb? I will tell you this. What makes you dumb is everything. Meaning if you blindly adopt views and ideas that were never thought through in the first place because some, you know, run of the mill influencer told you about life or business or relationships, then that doesn't make any sense. They are, you have to realize this. Influencers are in the business of getting views. There is nothing else that they care about. If they get more views, the algorithm rewards them. When the algorithm rewards them, they get more views, they get bigger, they get more followers, they can sell more stuff, they can do more brand deals, et cetera. That is the influencer model, right? And I will tell you, most influencers are. They're like 9 out of 10 influencers are so egotistical because this, this just because they get More views. They think they're hot, right? And so they say whatever the hell they want. I will tell you. Craziest thing happened.

[B]

I am not joking. I have a friend who made a video about how you can get tax breaks by forming an llc.

[A]

So I asked him.

[B]

He's an influencer. I asked him maybe a few years ago. I was like, hey, man, where'd you get this video?

[A]

He's like, oh, my. You know, I was like, you've never formed an LLC in your life. You have no idea. He's like, oh, I know. But my team told me this is a hot trending topic to talk about llc. So I talked about him. So this guy, right, has never formed an LLC in his life. He does not know anything about a tax return in his life. He could not explain it if it hit him in the face. And he's making these videos about how you should form an LLC because his team told him that they are trending right now. And I want you to realize this. The teams of influencers, what they do is they scour the Internet, they scour social media, and all they do is they try to find trending topics because their jobs depend on it. They're like, oh, this ice bucket video is trending. Hey, Sharon, you should make a video about it. Hey, this video about Donald Trump is trending. You should make a video about it. Hey, this video about taxes is trending. You should make a video about it. Hey, this video about this or that is trending. You should make a video about. Hey, this video about the super bowl is trending. You should make a video about it. This is what happens. And then they research, do the script, and the influencer just reads it. And it pro. Most of the time it's not accurate. No one checks for accuracy. They just check for views. And that's why I really want to, like, explain to you that I'm telling you, this happens to me too, right? My team does the same exact thing, but they know that I'm going to go research it and only do it if it's on brand, right? Here's kind of the fourth thing that.

[B]

I'm stopping doing right now.

[A]

I have flipped my creation to consumption.

[B]

Ratio when it comes to content. And here's what I mean by that.

[A]

It's very easy to just always be a consumer. So I think I told you about this app called like this One sec App, right? It forces me to stop for a.

[B]

Moment before I open any social app.

[A]

And by the way, you should download it. You could set it up for any app. So I click, say I click Instagram. Literally, it does not open the app. It takes a whole second or two. And it says, breathe in, breathe out. And it lets me pause before I actually do this. So now I've actually flipped my thinking that I don't scroll for massive entertainment anymore. And I was able to get off of this in like, I don't know, a week, 10 days. It took me about 10 days. And then now I don't have this urge to go back and constantly binge social media anymore. And so now if I want something, I open the app, open whatever app with a very clear question. I get the information that I want and then I leave it. I use the phone like a hammer. If I want to bang a nail, I go get the hammer. I bang the nail. I put the hammer back. And I think that's what's been really helpful. Now when I say I flip the creation to consumption ratio, what I'm starting to do now is when I have an idea, I just write more. I write more, draw on a whiteboard, I talk through ideas with someone. I'm like, if I can create the content, that's actually way better. And my realization is that I have noticed that I feel way better at the end of the day where I.

[B]

Have created more than I've consumed.

[A]

And that was the big shift for me. And I will tell you, a big.

[B]

Hack for me on this one has been to use the AI talk to text app, which is like the whisper flow. I have it on my phone, I have it on my, my computer. I set a button, I just talk that way. I feel like I'm creating and talking and thinking through the ideas with AI or with online as opposed to always just consuming. And that's been really helpful to me. All right, Bugatti at number five.

[A]

I have completely rethought what entertainment means. So my kids, my kids have reached.

[B]

A point where fun meant watching short videos. Literally to them, it's like they will negotiate for iPad time.

[A]

And so when the iPad gets turned off, I will kid you not.

[B]

Their, their bodies are just restless.

[A]

Their. Their minds are just mush. And getting them on a 15 minute car ride would be just crazy. We wouldn't even be able to choose.

[B]

Where we're going to dinner.

[A]

I will even tell you that they would not even eat cereal without having their iPad next to them. And I started realizing that my wife was doing the same thing. I'm not going to tell my wife.

[B]

What to do because she's just going.

[A]

To get mad at me. And so I don't, I just do it with everyone else, right? And so I recognized that I was getting in the same pattern. My wife was getting in the same pattern. And if I told her something, she would just snap back at me and it was really happening to her too. And you know, at night I would get into bed and I literally would sit there. I would sit back, you know, back.

[B]

Up straight against, against, put my, you.

[A]

Know, against the pillows and I would just scroll. I left my mind so over simulated and so empty I couldn't even sleep. So. But I'd be lying, honestly, I'd be.

[B]

Lying if I told you that, oh yeah, look at me, I quit cold turkey. I did not.

[A]

But what I realized was I could replace one bad thing with something with another bad thing. Just not.

[B]

Just not as bad, right? So if you drink a lot, I'm sorry, that's a bad analogy.

[A]

If you eat a lot of ice.

[B]

Cream, you can, instead of just eating a pint of ice cream every night, you could eat one scoop of ice cream. If you end up eating one scoop of ice cream every night, you could eat a small piece of candy and they're eating a small piece of candy every night you could have one bite of a, I don't know, like a sugar cube.

[A]

I'm not sure, you could always replace it with something less bad. And so, so at night instead of.

[B]

Watch, instead of kind of like just completely stopping watching on my phone now instead of watching short form, I just watch it TV show or I watch a long form video instead. And I just realized that long form entertainment, you know, helps me better. It's kind of slows my mind, it makes me able to sleep, it sparks some ideas, it like it's somewhat educational.

[A]

And so if I'm worn out, I.

[B]

Try to reach for a book. And like now reading is so hard at night, I just like, man, I'm too tired, I'm just going to go to bed. But that's what's really helped me, which is I just replaced short form with long form. I just replaced a bad habit with a little less bad habit. I'd be lying to you if I said there's no screens. Screens are still there, but it's no longer the center of what we call fun. And if you ask my children when they're in the car with me, we turn on Grok and we do a quiz or you know, we will play games when we're at dinner.

[A]

And the fact that is I'll try really Hard to get my kids to interact in such a way that there is.

[B]

There's more human interaction and we can learn more from each other.

[A]

And it takes time, it takes effort. They'll fight it, but once they get into it, it's way better. So we have to redefine what entertainment means. And so I. I say all of this to you because I really think.

[B]

That I have found the antidote to getting dumber.

[A]

Meaning, what is the magic pill?

[B]

What is the panacea?

[A]

And of everything that I have tried, I will tell you that this one single practice, this one single big idea.

[B]

Has made the most difference for me in my life, which is writing. Not doing voice memos, not talking into AI, not videos to my team, but writing. Like writing in Google Docs. When I, like I open a Google Doc, I write an essay. Sometimes I'm like.

[A]

My son the other day asked me, he goes, hey, dad, do you know.

[B]

What happened, you know, at the Berlin Wall? And I, you know, I kind of knew what happened at the Berlin Wall, but really know exactly what happened. And so I researched what happened at the Berlin Wall, and I wrote myself like a short essay. When I said a short essay, it was probably like 10, 15 sentences on exactly what happened. But I took the time to do the research, and then I wrote myself this essay. And now I understand what happened and.

[A]

Or a memo or a strategy draft. I just realized that if I just.

[B]

Write about something, there's something magical about.

[A]

Taking scattered thoughts and giving them, you know, giving them structure, organizing our thinking to. Because you can't write crap. Because when you read it, you're going to say, that's crap, and you'll be ashamed. You'd be embarrassed. So you will reorganize your thoughts.

[B]

I was reading this book about how in the original, kind of like the intellectual Greeks, the Greek Empire, the Greeks used to use writing the same exact way. Like, they would do all these intellectual debates, and then after they did those.

[A]

Debates, they would kind of chill out.

[B]

And write and think, and they would practice an argument.

[A]

And that's why we read Greek philosophy even today. And there is a reflective process when it comes to writing, because you get.

[B]

To the core idea and then you're able to actually write this.

[A]

And so I gave myself a rule.

[B]

About six months ago. I said, I write something every day. So no matter what, no matter when, every single day, I write something every single day. And sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not good, but I write something. Not AI slop. I write something.

[A]

And I really Believe that that one.

[B]

Thing keeps my thinking sharp. It helps me stay more present with my kids.

[A]

It really reminds me that our minds get stronger when we can actually think. Because when we think clearly, it's easy to write. The reason writing is difficult for most people is not because they don't know how to write. The reason writing is difficult for people is because they don't know how to think. If you can think clearly, writing is very easy. And so the reason I'm sharing all this with you, by the way, I.

[B]

I actually, my son Neil's 14 years old. I actually enrolled him in an online writing academy where he's just watching videos in a community, learning how to write as a 14 year old.

[A]

Like this is outside of schoolwork because.

[B]

I told him that once you can think clearly, once you have the right tools and the skills, you'll be able to write. And when you can write, you just conquer the world.

[A]

The reason I'm sharing all this with.

[B]

You is I really think the world's getting dumber. And so just to just to recap, so five things that I'm trying to trying to stop, right? Number one, I'm reducing short form content consumption. Number two, I'm changing what I'm outsourcing to AI.

[C]

I'm actually asking it to be a.

[B]

Critique partner, saying, hey, where's my logic? Wrong. Number three, I'm stopped taking advice from influencers. I essentially just don't anymore. Number four, I flip my content creation to consumption ratio. I'm creating more than I'm consuming. And the way I'm doing that is I'm just blocking my app usage. And number five, I'm just rethinking what entertainment means, both for myself and my family and hopefully and anybody that will listen because I think that's way easier if you just flip what you think about entertainment. And most importantly, I know this is hard. I know you don't want to do it, but if you can get into a practice of writing, I think it will really be helpful to you. Now if you don't want to write, that's okay. But at least try one of the other things because I think that will be helpful to you overall. This is my antidote to getting dumber. The five ways to stop getting dumber is probably the better way to say it. Hey, if you like this, can you please share this with a friend or share this with someone that has children and maybe a mastermind group or your spouse. And I think it'll be helpful to all of you because I'm not trying to sell you anything. I'm just trying to sell you what I've learned. So if you like this can you please screenshot this and tag me. That way I can make more like this for you and I'll know you like it. So please screenshot this and tag me and I'll make more like this for you.

[C]

Hey this is Sharon. I have an awesome free gift for you just for listening to the podcast. As you may know I've got a chance to build 2 billion dollar companies the hard way. So if you like this episode you will love getting the exact playbooks from those wins. It's on my site substack called My next billion. It has the exact frameworks I wish someone had given me when I was.

[B]

Figuring it all out.

[C]

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[B]

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[C]

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