Something I believe more every year: the more things get handed to us, the more the edge will lie in going out of our way to do hard things. My worry is that dependence on tech creeps in slowly enough that we don't notice what we've stopped being able to do.
Neuroplasticity is experience-dependent. The brain strengthens the circuits you use and challenge. The ones you don't use get actively weakened, and their resources get reallocated to what you do use. That stays true through adulthood, even as it slows with age. Your brain compounds just like everything else.
Smple ways to push back👇
Learn something hard from zero, like an instrument, language, or craft. Being bad at something as an adult is humbling and incredibly good for you.
Read long books. Start with the classics. Sustained focus + working memory.
Write by hand regularly. A daily journal is an easiest way to get into the groove.
Do things that make your brain and body work together: dancing, cooking, sports, really any kind of exercise.
Seek out novelty. New places, routes, experiences. Travel, especially somewhere you don't speak the language. Navigate without GPS sometimes (even if you get a little lost).
Teach someone else something you just learned (if you can't explain it, you don't really understand it yet).
Sleep!! A lot of learning gets locked in while you're asleep, so this is probably the easiest one on the list.
🗣️ I'm pro-technology. But the more we lean on it, the more deliberately we need to balance it out if we want to keep any edge.
Use the tools, just don’t hand them your entire brain in the process!