De-Brainrot Vacations
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
A software engineer spends vacations studying math and physics to counter cognitive decline from work and digital distractions.
The author describes feeling intellectually lazier after years as a software engineer, exacerbated by AI tools and easy dopamine from short-form content. To counter this, they spent a two-week vacation in the Chilean countryside reading Mary Beard's SPQR and Francisco Claro's physics book, then worked through Stewart's Calculus, Paul's Notes, and Active Calculus to rebuild pre-calculus skills. They also studied University Physics. The goal is to understand advanced physics concepts and read papers, not career progression, which feels uncertain with AI.
The author notes finishing both vacation books in the first week and buying more; they found learning math and physics reminiscent of starting programming as a hobby, purely for enjoyment.
What commenters are saying
The thread strongly resonates with the article's premise. Many commenters share similar experiences: one spent their vacation reading Lee Kuan Yew's memoirs and working on university textbooks. Another describes a 'staycation' focused on learning Godot game programming as the most relaxing vacation. A former line cook who later became a software engineer credits a laptop-free period with helping them re-enroll in school.
A few comments explore the concept of solitude: one cites a definition of solitude as 'lack of input from other minds,' arguing that electronic media crowds out one's own thinking. Another commenter contrasts two vacation types, relaxation/offline and exploration, and advocates combining them with extended stays rather than rapid city-hopping.