Software Engineer Reclaims Reading and Study Time During ‘De-Brainrot’ Holiday
A two-week family holiday in the countryside became an experiment in reducing digital distractions, reading more and studying mathematics and physics.
A software engineer has described using a two-week holiday to reduce digital distractions and rebuild habits centred on reading and learning.
Writing in a post published via Hacker News, the engineer said their thinking had become slower and less profound than earlier in their career. They attributed the change partly to the ease of accessing short-form video, games, television, comics and doomscrolling, as well as the changing nature of software-engineering work and the use of artificial intelligence.
The holiday was spent visiting family in the countryside, socialising, spending time in nature and playing board games, football and Roblox with relatives. The writer also used the break to focus on reading, beginning with Mary Beard’s SPQR and a physics book, De Newton a Einstein y algo más.
After finishing those books during the first week, the writer read a collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald short stories and Atomic Habits. They also began working through Stewart’s Calculus: Early Transcendentals, revising trigonometry and algebra before moving on to mathematics exercises and the physics textbook University Physics.
The writer said the experience felt similar to learning programming as a hobby: an opportunity to study for its own sake and enjoy the process. They reported feeling less intellectually lazy and more engaged in day-to-day learning afterwards, while acknowledging that the account is a personal reflection rather than an independently measured assessment of cognitive change.
