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'Brain rot' was Oxford's Word of the Year in 2024, and it's easy to see why. Between endless scrolling and AI that's happy to do our thinking for us, lots of us feel like our brains are rotting into a creative mush. And it's got nothing to do with talent. Creativity needs mental space and time to think, and unfortunately... modern life fills both. There's more inspiration online than ever, but we save, and scroll. Save, and scroll. So what can you do to get your own creativity back if it's lacking?
The good news is that creativity doesn't disappear. Like any skill, it gets rusty when you don't use it, but it comes back quickly with just a few small changes.
Why is it so hard to feel creative right now?
Creativity isn't just for people who paint or write. It's how you crack a problem at work or turn half a fridge into dinner. And by some measures we're getting worse at it. An analysis of nearly 300,000 creativity tests in the US found scores have been falling since 1990... But why?
Firstly, because ideas need mental space. Your best ideas tend to arrive when your brain isn't busy, during moments when you might feel bored or be doing a repetitive and mundane task. This is because your brain has space to wander through existing information, linking things together to spark new ideas. But mental space is very hard to find in modern society. Idle gaps in our days used to be everywhere, but now the phone comes out and our mental space is filled.
Ideas also need attention, and there's a lot competing for it. There's no shortage of inspiration in the world, and it's easier than ever to find it. But having loads of information isn't the same as having time to do something with it. Creative thinking relies on sitting with a half-formed idea long enough for it to become something. And consuming a lot of short-form content means we don’t sit with the inspiration we consume for very long. Heavy short-form video use has been linked with poorer attention and impulse control, which makes creative inspiration much harder. Then there's choice. With a thousand ways to do anything and a thousand people online already doing it brilliantly, it's easy to feel there's no point starting.
Is AI killing creativity?
AI can make your work better, but it also makes it more like everyone else's. It's great for freeing up time and tidying up grammar, but the trouble starts when we hand it the ideas too. A small study found people writing essays with ChatGPT had the lowest brain engagement of any group, and the teachers marking them called the essays 'soulless'.
Creativity happens in the messy middle, in the bad ideas and the odd connections between things. The random idea that starts as a bit of a joke, but ends up being iconic. When you skip straight to a polished answer, you lose the part that makes it yours. Sure, it seems everything is possible with AI, so you can mock up ideas and brainstorm with it. But it's no replacement for human creativity. Use AI to tidy up an idea once you've had it, but don’t let is replace having it in the first place.
7 ways to get your creativity back
These tips are all very simple, but they're all backed by science. The key is consistency.
- Choose your inputs Be picky about what you consume. Short-form video is like snacking… it's quick and tasty, but endless snacks never leave you feeling full. Swap short-form scrolling for slower, more intentional media that gives you time to think about what you've absorbed. That could be a magazine, a long-read Substack, a proper YouTube documentary or an afternoon in a gallery. Fiction is great for this too, even if you just read for 15 or so minutes.
- Let yourself be bored Boredom is the catalyst for creativity. Next time you're waiting for a train or the kettle, leave your phone in your pocket and let your mind wander. Boredom sends your brain looking for something interesting, and it usually finds it in your own head. Researchers in Lancashire had people copy numbers out of a phone book for 15 minutes before a creativity task, and they came up with more ideas than people who'd skipped the boring bit. We've written more on the beauty of boredom if you need convincing.
- Go for a walk or move your body When you're stuck, get up and move. A loop round the block or the long way to the shops is enough, ideally without headphones so your brain has room to wander. Stanford researchers found people came up with around 60% more creative ideas while walking than sitting, and the boost carried on for a while after they sat back down. Walking with friends is great too, as the conversation wanders onto new ideas. We love a walking meeting at Unplugged!
- Write it down Get what's in your head onto paper in whatever form works for you, whether that's a diary, a to-do list, a few gratitudes or a messy page of thoughts first thing in the morning. Writing about what's on your mind frees up working memory, the mental space you need to hold an idea and play around with it.
- Get outside Nature is great for nurturing your creativity. Spend time somewhere green, ideally with your phone left behind. Nature gives your brain a rest from the constant hard focus that screens ask for, which frees it up to wander and make connections. People four days into a device-free hiking trip scored around 50% higher on a creative problem-solving test than people who were about to set off.
- Sleep on it Read over the problem you're stuck on before bed or a nap, then stop thinking about it. This can help with even the shortest naps. Salvador Dalí used to doze in a chair holding a spoon, so that when he drifted off it would clatter onto the floor and wake him, and he'd get straight back to painting. Researchers in Paris tested the trick with a cup and found people who'd spent just 15 seconds in that first light stage of sleep were nearly three times as likely to crack a hidden rule in a maths task.
- Just start... and start badly Sometimes being a perfectionist can stifle creativity. When we see finished work on social media, we don't credit the failed attempts behind the scenes. Instead of making excuses, just start. And aim for it to be rubbish. Give yourself ten minutes or a target of twenty terrible ideas, and don't judge anything until you've finished. Research on famous composers and scientists found the ones with the most hits also had the most misses, because they made more work overall. The bad ideas are how you get to the good ones, which is why we're big fans of imperfection.
Make some room to think
Nearly all of these come down to fewer inputs and more gaps, which is hard to manage when your phone is always within reach. So if you feel like you might need a kickstart to get your creativity back, we've got you. Three nights with your phone in a lockbox gives you back the waiting-for-the-kettle moments and the space to for your mind to wandddderrrrr.
