A Life Spent Consuming Rather Than Creating

We’ve normalized overconsumption. A podcast while walking, reels in the bathroom, music while cooking, and YouTube while eating. Something is always playing in the background to block out the silence. It’s like we’re scared of being alone with our own thoughts, of forming new ideas, and of allowing ourselves to create. We consume endlessly and create nothing. And then we wonder why we feel groggy and mentally tired. Our brains never catch a break.

The average student will spend 25 years of their life scrolling (Fluid Focus, 2025). Lately, there has been the emergence of what is now called “brain rot” content across all forms of social media. In fact, Oxford University Press named “brain rot” its word of the year in 2024, pointing to the way constant exposure to low-quality content can erode our mental and intellectual state (Williamson, 2025). It’s not just screen time that matters, but also the kind of content we consume; large amounts of trivial or unchallenging material can distort our perception of reality and leave us mentally exhausted.

But the problem isn’t just the volume of what we consume. It’s what we’ve stopped doing because of it. We’re constantly taking things in while creating less and less ourselves. Over time, that imbalance begins to shape how we think, how we see ourselves, and what we find meaningful. Despite constant stimulation, something still feels empty.

The Art of Being Bored

There is an art to being bored, but we seem to have lost it. Boredom is quiet, still, and uncomfortable at first, but it is also what allows us to think, reflect, and come up with something new. Instead of sitting in that silence, we reach for our phones and replace our own thoughts with someone else’s content. When we are never bored, we don’t seek new experiences, and we struggle to come up with anything new at all. Over time, this becomes a reflex.

Lately, that reflex has extended even further. It has become common to immediately turn to ChatGPT or other forms of generative AI when we need ideas or to generate images instead of creating them ourselves. When we open TikTok, we see dozens of AI trends where people are editing their photos into different styles or watching entirely AI-generated content, often referred to as “AI slop” (Tidy, 2026). Even governments have begun using AI to generate images and videos for political campaigns, propaganda, and disinformation (Ryan-Mosley, 2023).

It seems easier to scratch the itch of boredom by doing what is convenient, like soothing the tension by immediately seeking stimulation. But this passive use of AI is not really creation. It’s still consumption. AI relies on human-made content, detecting patterns in large datasets and reproducing them in new forms rather than producing something fundamentally new (Dien, 2023). In that sense, it condenses and reorganizes what already exists. 

At the same time, there is an increasing reliance on technology not just for productivity, but for emotional regulation. Many times, we don’t even want to go on our phones, but we crave it. The brain’s liking versus wanting system, known as incentive salience, helps explain this (Berridge & Robinson, 2016). Dopamine drives the urge to check our phones, even when we don’t actually enjoy it. Over time, this creates a loop of seeking without satisfaction, where we are scrolling not because we want to, but because we feel like we need to. Phones and content begin to replace time for reflection, serving as a kind of inanimate emotional support.

Why We Feel So Lost

This constant consumption is not just affecting how we spend our time, but how we experience our lives. Many young adults describe themselves as feeling a state of ennui as they navigate major transitions in their early 20s, like shifting from school to work (Shrikant, 2024). Ennui is a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction that comes from a lack of meaning or direction. It is not quite burnout, and not quite boredom, but something in between – a lack of fulfillment, a lack of direction, and a sense of simply existing.

Part of this may come from overexposure. Think about your peers. Your cousin is starting grad school, your group project member from last semester is in Japan, and your best friend is training for a marathon. We are constantly consuming information about how other people are living their lives. And because of that, it starts to feel like we should be doing all of those things at once, simply because it seems like everyone else is. It’s overwhelming. It feels like pressure from all sides, leaving people stuck, frozen somewhere in the middle. The sense of comparison many of us felt growing up never really disappeared and just became internalized. Instead of being told directly, we now do it to ourselves. We get stuck observing how other people live their lives rather than participating in our own. When you’re constantly overstimulated and consuming too much, you don’t lack motivation, just the space to develop it. You don’t have the room to figure out what you actually like, or who you actually are.

Now, I’m not saying that everyone must create. I know not everybody sees themselves as creative, and that’s okay. And in a capitalistic society where many people are working constantly just to sustain themselves, not everyone has the time or energy to engage in creative work. But what I am saying is that creativity should still be seen as valuable. With the way the future is headed, we need critical thinking skills more than ever, especially in an era where it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish what is real from what is not.

The Decline of Creativity

Think about what makes humans different from animals. It’s the culture we’ve created for ourselves, like how we have language, that we read, write, draw, and most importantly, create. Humans are designed to reflect and to create. Historically, being a philosopher, an artist, or a writer was seen as something valuable, even prestigious. Think about the names we still recognize today, like Aristotle, Plato, Michelangelo, and Da Vinci.

Now, it’s becoming very common for the average student to lack hobbies. We say things like, “I used to play volleyball,” “I used to crochet,” “I used to play guitar,” or “I used to write a novel.” Not now, but before. These are not things we grew out of, but things we replaced. Now we watch others do these things on our screens, give it a like, and move on. If someone spends even ten minutes scrolling on TikTok, they’re bombarded with extremely talented painters, dancers, and bakers, all showcasing their skills in an entertaining, accessible format. It’s not that hobbies don’t exist anymore, but they’ve become something to gawk at and commercialize, rather than something we engage in for intrinsic, personal enjoyment.

In times of distress, the Western perspective is often to turn to hobbies as a form of “productive leisure,” i.e., something that doesn’t interfere with more “important” things like work (Kopelman, 2022). Maybe this is why many of us don’t have hobbies the way we used to. We are too busy being “productive,” filling any sliver of free time with things society has deemed more beneficial than activities that are simply pleasurable, whether that’s volunteering, attending networking events, or competing in case competitions. And yet, research shows that engaging in hobbies for personal enjoyment is associated with higher levels of psychological and physical well-being (Pressman et al., 2009).

This shift is also reflected in how we value education. There is an increasing emphasis on studying fields that are seen as practical or profitable, while the humanities are often dismissed. Consider Premier Doug Ford’s recent OSAP cuts, which limit access to certain forms of education. Ford encouraged students to pursue fields such as STEM, healthcare, trades, and technology, referring to them as “jobs of the future” (Piercey, 2026). At the same time, he has repeatedly dismissed other disciplines as “basket-weaving courses” (Piercey, 2026). These comments and the rhetoric behind them reveal a broader ideological framework in which education is valued primarily for its economic return.

As a result, learning becomes reduced to employability, overlooking the importance of creativity, critical thinking, and intellectual curiosity. When education is framed solely around productivity, we risk turning people into passive participants in systems rather than active thinkers and creators.

The Fear of Being Imperfect

Part of the reason we no longer create is that our fear of being “cringe” is holding us back. Young people are increasingly afraid of being seen as “cringe,” of not being perfect, or of being judged. We are scared of not being good at something on the first try, which makes us less likely to continue. This fear leads to paralysis. We would rather consume than risk being seen trying and failing. But trying is already more than what most people do. “To be cringe is to be free” means you are participating instead of just watching.

I think there is something we can learn from Indigenous perspectives of wellbeing, which do not define a meaningful life purely through productivity or achievement. Instead, wellbeing is understood as relational, emerging from connections between the self, the community, and the land (Yadeun-Antuñano, 2018). In contrast, Western cultures often tie worth to output, making it feel as though we are only valuable when we are achieving or contributing economically. But this way of thinking is not universal. In some Indigenous frameworks, the focus is not on constant progress, but on living in balance, being present, and maintaining relationships with people, with nature, and with the world itself.

Maybe part of the reason we feel so mentally exhausted is that we’ve reduced life to output. It might be enough, at times, to simply exist as part of something larger, without constantly needing to prove our worth. We are all part of the natural world. We don’t have to extract meaning or productivity from every moment. Not everything needs to become a lesson, a takeaway, or a think piece. There is value in experience itself, in being human, without constantly needing to justify it.

In a world where career paths feel unstable and no job is completely secure, it becomes even more important to focus on what feels meaningful and personal. Not everything has to be optimized or monetized. There is value in doing things simply because you want to do them, even if they do not lead to immediate success.

The Joy of Learning

As university students, we should make it a mission to bring back the joy of learning without just focusing on degree requirements, but learning broadly and out of curiosity. To care about things beyond what will advance our careers, and to approach learning the way we did as children, with curiosity, creativity, and a willingness to try. We were once taught to build things, not just consume them.

A meaningful life isn’t built by consuming more, but by creating something, however small, that feels like your own. It may be as simple as reducing the noise, sitting in silence a little longer, and choosing to engage with the world more intentionally.

References

Berridge, K. C., & Robinson, T. E. (2016). Liking, wanting, and the incentive-sensitization theory of addiction. American Psychologist, 71(8), 670–679. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000059

Dien, J. (2023). Editorial: Generative Artificial Intelligence as a plagiarism problem. Biological Psychology, 181, 108621. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2023.108621

Fluid Focus. (2025). Smartphones in Education (SIE): How screens are reshaping students’ academic and personal lives. Smartphones in Education (SIE) Research Programme. https://www.fluidfocus.app/sie-research

Kopelman, E. (2022, October 19). The rise and fall of genuine hobbies. The Michigan Daily. https://www.michigandaily.com/statement/the-rise-and-fall-of-genuine-hobbies/

Piercey, O. (2026, February 18). Ford defends OSAP cuts despite student outcry | CBC news. CBCnews. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-premier-defends-osap-cuts-9.7095738

Pressman, S. D., Matthews, K. A., Cohen, S., Martire, L. M., Scheier, M., Baum, A., & Schulz, R. (2009). Association of enjoyable leisure activities with psychological and physical well-being. Psychosomatic Medicine, 71(7), 725–732. https://doi.org/10.1097/psy.0b013e3181ad7978

Ryan-Mosley, T. (2023, October 3). How generative AI is boosting the spread of disinformation and Propaganda. MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/10/04/1080801/generative-ai-boosting-disinformation-and-propaganda-freedom-house/#:~:text=October%204%2C%202023,the%20proliferation%20of%20artificial%20intelligence.

Shrikant, A. (2024, June 21). “inside out 2” adds ennui to its cast of emotions: How the feeling affects gen Z workers, from a psychologist who worked on the film. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/21/ennui-how-the-emotion-featured-in-inside-out-2-affects-gen-z-workers.html

Tidy, J. (2026, February 4). Ai “slop” is transforming social media - and there’s a backlash. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wx2dz2v44o

Williamson, L. (2025, May). Is brain rot real? here’s what brain health experts say. www.heart.org. https://www.heart.org/en/news/2025/05/27/is-brain-rot-real-heres-what-brain-health-experts-say

Yadeun-Antuñano, M. (2018). Indigenous perspectives of wellbeing: Living A good life. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69627-0_60-1