In a recent guest essay, Cal Newport asks us to consider how deep work and critical thinking might be comparable to diet and exercise. All of these concepts materially affect our well-being and require self-discipline. Against this backdrop, Newport argues that phones, email, and short-form content are not merely distracting, but actually reshaping attention, concentration, and our ability to perform sustained mental work. Another recent essay in the New York Times magazine makes a similar point, identifying memes as the gateway drug to “brain rot.” In short, “It is a force that warps our reality, a cosmic background noise that is everywhere and nowhere—something inhuman that’s subtly reshaping our language, our politics, even our minds.” Are you feeling this? And, if so, what tools have you leveraged in response?