Let’s talk about brain rot—that soul-crushing feeling when you’ve doom-scrolled so long your thoughts turn to algorithmic mush. I refused to accept it. So instead of adding to the slurry, I started brain-watering: sharing the books, essays, and long-form gems that actually nourish my mind. And you know what happened? My TikTok comments became a thriving little ecosystem of recommendations, debates, and “wait, explain this again?”—a chaotic but living network of ideas.
Turns out, I was accidentally digital gardening in public.
Digital Gardens: Where Ideas Grow Wild
Forget the pressure of a perfect blog post. A digital garden is more like a public notebook—messy, evolving, and hyperlinked. It’s where half-formed thoughts get sunlight, connections sprout unexpectedly, and nothing ever really “dies” in an archive. (RIP my abandoned Medium account.)
I’ve been doing this on TikTok with long-form content I found mentally stimulating and expanded my curiosity. The goal? Resist the brain rot. Cultivate curiosity. Let ideas grow at their own pace.
Your Turn: No Green Thumb Required
You don’t need a fancy platform—just a willingness to share what feeds your brain. A few ways to start:
Turn your highlights into public notes (apps like Notion work, but so does a TikTok caption)
Link your rabbit holes (why that podcast episode led to this Wikipedia spiral)
Let your takes be imperfect (gardens aren’t manicured lawns)
The internet doesn’t need more hot takes. It needs more compost—rich, weird, and full of potential. So grab your watering can. Let’s grow something.
(PS: If you want to see my latest brain-watering thread—this week, see the below but no pressure of course)
TikTok: Brain-Watering TikTok
Many of my comments and DM’s ask me where I’m finding content to water my brain for my digital garden. See below for a resource list!
🧠 Big Brains, Big Platforms
The New York Times – Classic journalism meets sharp cultural commentary. Thinkers, critics, and top-tier reporting.
The Atlantic – Where politics, culture, and philosophy intersect with exceptional writing.
The New Yorker – Longform heaven. Essays, fiction, satire, and meticulous fact-checking.
Aeon – Essays and videos on philosophy, science, and society, all with a meditative, slow-thought vibe.
Nautilus – Science + storytelling = cosmically good content. A deeply visual and intellectual experience.
🌿 Independent & Thoughtful
Substack – A whole ecosystem of writers sharing essays, critiques, newsletters. Check out:
Culture Study by Anne Helen Petersen
Milk and Cookies
Longreads – Curated longform stories from around the web. A rabbit hole of quality thinking.
The Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings) – Maria Popova’s lyrical archive of ideas, literature, philosophy, and wonder.
Noema Magazine – Big-picture thinking from the Berggruen Institute on AI, the future, and geopolitics.
Works in Progress – Clear, optimistic writing on progress, science, and institutional reform.
xo,
ruby