This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:09] Susan Blackwell: When I bump into something that inspires me, I jump in my spark file.

[0:18] Laura Camien: Spark file to be something that I wanna make or how I wanna be.

[0:23] Susan Blackwell: I pump it in my spark file.

[0:23] Laura Camien: Spark.

[0:26] Susan Blackwell: I jump into my spark slide.

[0:32] Laura Camien: Let's open up the spark file.

[0:36] Susan Blackwell: Welcome to the Spark File, where we believe that everyone is creative, but smart creative people don't go it alone.

[0:43] Laura Camien: Hey, I'm Laura Camien.

[0:45] Susan Blackwell: And I'm Susan Blackwell, and we are creativity coaches who help people clarify and accomplish their creative goals.

[0:51] Laura Camien: You should know that just by listening to this podcast, you are joining a warm and wonderful clan of creatives.

[0:58] Susan Blackwell: But you also may be asking yourself, what exactly is a spark file?

[1:02] Laura Camien: Well, a spark file is a place where you consistently collect all of your inspirations and fascinations.

[1:09] Susan Blackwell: Every episode, we're gonna reach into our personal spark files and exchange some sparks.

[1:15] Laura Camien: And from time to time, we're gonna talk to some folks who spark us too.

[1:19] Susan Blackwell: And your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take some of those sparks of inspiration and make something of your own.

[1:26] Laura Camien: So without further ado, let's open up the Spark file.

[1:31] Susan Blackwell: Laura.

[1:32] Laura Camien: Hi, Suze.

[1:33] Susan Blackwell: Hiya.

[1:34] Laura Camien: How are you doing?

[1:35] Susan Blackwell: I'm really good and I'm really excited because I love Spark Day and I love it when you spark me.

[1:40] Laura Camien: Oh, Spark Day is so fun.

[1:42] Susan Blackwell: And I have a fun little spark for you today, I think.

[1:46] Laura Camien: I'm into it.

[1:46] Susan Blackwell: It's a little one, but it's one that has, you know, taken up a little space in my mind recently.

[1:52] Laura Camien: So I thought, hmm, maybe I better share this.

[1:56] Susan Blackwell: This week I read an article in the Atlantic by John Hendrickson.

[2:01] Laura Camien: It's about the word of the year, according to Oxford.

[2:05] Susan Blackwell: It's the word of the year.

[2:07] Laura Camien: Do you know?

[2:07] Susan Blackwell: Wait, wait, wait. Do you know what the word of the year is?

[2:09] Laura Camien: I heard it and I lost it.

[2:11] Susan Blackwell: Can't pull it up.

[2:12] Laura Camien: I'm gonna tell you it's gonna, yep, go ahead.

[2:15] Susan Blackwell: Oxford word of the year is brain rot.

[2:22] Laura Camien: Obviously, we know that's two words, but we're gonna let that slide.

[2:25] Susan Blackwell: Brain rot.

[2:27] Laura Camien: You know what? I don't think I knew that.

[2:29] Susan Blackwell: Well, Suze, that is dark with me for a moment.

[2:34] Laura Camien: Yeah, it is dark because like, uh well, they they've been under a lot of criticism because of uh, I don't know, I guess just how, well, because number one, it's two words, not one.

[2:46] Susan Blackwell: Um, but because um it is dark, it is a certain, you know, uh it could be perceived as a certain generational type of thing.

[2:56] Laura Camien: Last year the Oxford word was Riz, which is a little bit more peppy.

[3:03] Susan Blackwell: I think when you said, Do you know what the word is? I think I was still back on Riz.

[3:05] Laura Camien: Still on Riz, yeah.

[3:08] Susan Blackwell: Yep.

[3:08] Laura Camien: Which, if you're not, you know, uh tapped in, it's charisma, short for charisma.

[3:15] Susan Blackwell: Um, anyway, according to Oxford, brain rot is the word of the year, and no other word or phrase seemingly better captures this distinct blend of listlessness, exhaustion, haziness, dissatisfaction that a lot of people are feeling right now and trying to describe right now.

[3:41] Laura Camien: So Oxford defines brain rot as a supposed deterioration of a person's mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a result of overconsumption of material considered to be trivial or unchallenging.

[4:01] Susan Blackwell: Let's hear that again. Overconsumption of material considered to be trivial or unchallenging.

[4:08] Laura Camien: Okay.

[4:09] Susan Blackwell: Particularly online content.

[4:11] Laura Camien: Yeah, I thought that's where we were headed.

[4:13] Susan Blackwell: That's where we're headed.

[4:15] Laura Camien: That's where the majority of it comes from, and how we spend, you know.

[4:20] Susan Blackwell: I still want to throw my phone across the room when it tells me how many hours a day I have been on it.

[4:28] Laura Camien: And I'm like, how is that possible?

[4:30] Susan Blackwell: I'm like, I don't have that many hours in the day.

[4:32] Laura Camien: And I'm like, well, that's because they got sucked into that.

[4:36] Susan Blackwell: So in this article, Hendrickson uses an example that happened to show up on that very day in his social media feed.

[4:47] Laura Camien: At the time, we were in the midst of starting to hear about and contemplating all the cabinet member nominations and the news of which public programs might be cut when the next administration comes into office and other pretty damn important topics.

[5:04] Susan Blackwell: And yet, what the president-elect posted on his so-called truth social account was a manufactured image of present day Donald Trump hanging out with Elvis Presley.

[5:21] Laura Camien: And there was no joke associated and no comment, and the whole thing was made to look like it was a historical artifact, which is ridiculous.

[5:32] Susan Blackwell: And you could argue, who cares? Like, what does that matter?

[5:36] Laura Camien: Take it alone, obviously, it doesn't matter.

[5:40] Susan Blackwell: It doesn't matter at all.

[5:41] Laura Camien: It's pointless.

[5:43] Susan Blackwell: And that is exactly the point.

[5:46] Laura Camien: How many of these absolutely meaningless, mindless images do we scroll past every day from everyone, every brand in our social media feeds?

[5:58] Susan Blackwell: They're not informative, meaningful, intelligent, thought provoking. They're not a celebration of art or literature or higher thought. They don't appeal to our understanding of humanity. They don't contribute to any higher purpose at all.

[6:18] Laura Camien: Apparently, according to this article, the people in the President-elect's feed absolutely loved this post and went on to share additional AI-generated images that they created.

[6:31] Susan Blackwell: Again, harmless, but again pointless.

[6:39] Laura Camien: And it's not uh it's not at all even about politics.

[6:43] Susan Blackwell: It's not about AI. This was just the example that the author of this article used to make the point about brain rot.

[6:51] Laura Camien: Even the human being in the highest office of our country's government uses his time in an absolutely pointless way.

[7:02] Susan Blackwell: Is the inference that he was puttering around on AI and generated this?

[7:10] Laura Camien: Or was it just that he even thought to share it?

[7:15] Susan Blackwell: Like that he took the time it takes to grab it and let's just share this.

[7:22] Laura Camien: This absolutely meaningless, pointless, no comment, no thought-provoking message.

[7:30] Susan Blackwell: Just, you know.

[7:36] Laura Camien: One of a million that we simply just absorb hour after hour every day.

[7:43] Susan Blackwell: Hendrickson writes, brain rot stems from this daily avalanche of meaningless images and videos, all of those little tumbling content particles that do not stir the soul.

[8:00] Laura Camien: So I was amused and appalled to learn that the term for AI-generated images is slop.

[8:10] Susan Blackwell: Oh.

[8:11] Laura Camien: Did you know that?

[8:13] Susan Blackwell: I had heard that.

[8:17] Laura Camien: It kind of makes sense.

[8:19] Susan Blackwell: It's so accurate.

[8:21] Laura Camien: Slop.

[8:22] Susan Blackwell: Doesn't that just make you think of the unidentifiable cafeteria food?

[8:28] Laura Camien: Just spoonful after spoonful of slop being dished out.

[8:35] Susan Blackwell: And the problem is that all of this slop is taking up valuable space in our brain.

[8:42] Laura Camien: It shortens our attention span, which in turn makes it harder for us to take in the more meaningful content when we do feel inclined to pick up a book or learn a new skill or even a new game.

[8:56] Susan Blackwell: Anything that takes longer than two seconds.

[8:58] Laura Camien: I'll even say this. Sometimes when I'm scrolling, there is something deep and meaningful that I would like to think about.

[9:05] Susan Blackwell: And I will hit save.

[9:08] Laura Camien: Yep.

[9:08] Susan Blackwell: So I can think about it later.

[9:10] Laura Camien: Because right now I'm busy consuming slop.

[9:14] Susan Blackwell: Uh-huh.

[9:15] Laura Camien: That's what my brain is doing.

[9:17] Susan Blackwell: And I don't have any room for the more meaningful and nutritious food.

[9:23] Laura Camien: So brain rot is the neurological equivalent of donuts for dinner.

[9:29] Susan Blackwell: It's like you have filled yourself up, but you have not really, you know, gotten any nurturing.

[9:37] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[9:37] Susan Blackwell: So according to the article on The Atlantic, brain rot doesn't hurt. It's dulling, numbing, something more like a steady drip.

[9:47] Laura Camien: You know you have it when you have consumed, but you are most certainly not filled up.

[9:52] Susan Blackwell: And the deluge of disposable digital stuff often feels like a self-fulfilling, self-deadening prophecy.

[10:03] Laura Camien: Rotting brains crave more slop.

[10:07] Susan Blackwell: Oh my God, it's just like zombies.

[10:10] Laura Camien: It's like it's a zombie equation.

[10:13] Susan Blackwell: It is.

[10:15] Laura Camien: It is. Remember that movie Wally?

[10:18] Susan Blackwell: It's like that.

[10:19] Susan Blackwell: Like, and don't take my slop away from me. I'm just busy feeding this. So, oh my God. The article even points out this. There are times we're taking in slop while we're taking in slop. Think about the TV equivalent, like the reality shows that feel designed to watch while you're looking at something else on your phone.

[10:43] Laura Camien: Uh-huh.

[10:44] Susan Blackwell: Right? It's like, I think about remember Musac, that elevator music designed so that you were in fact hearing music, but you could talk over it. You could have a conversation at the same time. People were highly critical of music at the time because it wasn't really music. It was designed to like allow us to do something else. Now that seems so tame. It was actually trying to allow us to have a conversation despite some sounds in the, you know, around us. But look at now we're creating content to be consumed while we're consuming other content. Ugh, it's just slop on top of slop.

[11:28] Susan Blackwell: So, you know, the history lover in me was excited to learn this. Hendrickson really came through in this article for me. He said, though it seems highly modern, brain rot as a phrase dates back to Henry David Thoreau, the transcendentalist, the contemporary of Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the founders of The Atlantic magazine.

[11:58] Laura Camien: Wow.

[11:58] Susan Blackwell: As Oxford University Press notes on its website, the first recorded use of brain rot was found in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau's book Walden, which reports his experiences of living a simple lifestyle in the natural world. As part of his conclusions, Thoreau criticizes society's tendency to devalue complex ideas or those that can be interpreted in multiple ways in favor of simple ones and sees this as indicative of a general decline in mental and intellectual effort. He says, while England endeavors to cure the potato rot, will not any endeavor to cure the brain rot, which prevails so much more wildly and fatally.

[12:50] Laura Camien: Buckle up.

[12:52] Susan Blackwell: You don't even know what's coming. 1954. And I think about like just last year in politics, we were talking with like Hannah Marie Marquez. Hi Hannah Marie, if you're listening. And she's like, well, this country decided long ago we did not want to be nuanced. We didn't want to deal with any topics where more than one thing could be true. Whereas Thoreau says, those things that could be interpreted in multiple ways, complex ideas. Oh, oh, I just can't believe it. It's it's just it's nice to know, as the article points out, that today, Walden Pond outside of Boston is one of the surest places that you can visit to alleviate brain rot, still to this day. You can swim in the cool reflective water, stare at the swaying trees, wander around the muddy shore. Even just the description of that stirs my soul.

[13:56] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[13:56] Susan Blackwell: This also reminds me, if I may, Laura, I was um Laura and I are giving ourselves a little bit of challenge to hopefully add to the the positive side of social media to share some, you know, sparks of inspiration. Sparks of inspiration on social. And so I was recording one of my sparks today for social media. So you're talking about Walden Pond and how this is a place where potentially it is the anti-brain rot.

[14:32] Laura Camien: That's right.

[14:32] Susan Blackwell: So I was sharing this thing from the author Joseph Campbell, who specialized in mythology. And during those famous interviews between the journalist Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell, Bill asked Joseph Campbell, what does it mean to have a sacred place? And Joseph Campbell said, you must have a room or a certain hour of the day where you do not know what was in the newspapers that morning. You don't know who your friends are, you don't know what you owe to anybody, you don't know what anybody owes to you, but a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. And first you may find that nothing's happening there, but if you have a sacred place and use it and take advantage of it, something will happen.

[15:24] Laura Camien: I think about this spark you're sharing with me today, which I feel I feel deeply called in, but also um sparks that you've shared around the necessity for boredom, the necessity in the in the creative equation, the necessary the necessity for boredom. The attention economy, like where we put our attention, yes.

[15:50] Susan Blackwell: Yes, I think about uh an amalgam of all of these sparks and my own uh if I'm honest, my own challenges with it, and I think about what Joseph Campbell was saying about we have to have a place for creativity to exist and for our humanity to exist. We have to have a place, yes, like Walden Pond or a chair in your in your living room next to a record player where you listen to music that you love, like just that kind of a jam.

[16:26] Laura Camien: That's right.

[16:27] Susan Blackwell: And lately, like for the past three weeks, I've been doing I offered it up to all of our clients, but basically meeting like early morning, getting online and writing. And the beauty of it is I the only thing I do before starting to write is make coffee. So I make coffee and I get to it. And the like just like um Joseph Campbell said, I don't know the news that day, I don't know what's up and what's down, what's going on, and it doesn't matter. I'm not I haven't filled my brain with a whole bunch of other stuff. I'm just sitting down to write, and um that has been such a gift, such a gift.

[17:12] Laura Camien: And I am aspiring, I also told you this didn't this happen kind of by accident because my sister and my nephew visited for like a week, and we were so busy running around the city in a beautiful way that I didn't have time for watching any television for that entire week.

[17:31] Susan Blackwell: And I remember saying to you, like, I haven't watched any of my shows, haven't watched anything for a week, and I'm gonna try to keep it going because how much richer and more interesting have my days been not being filled up with like I I didn't even have time for I had my phone out all the time, of course, for taking photos um of Robbie and Marcy and like the stuff we were doing, but I was not on my phone in that, you know what I mean? I just didn't have time.

[18:00] Laura Camien: It was kind of beautiful.

[18:06] Susan Blackwell: It's kind of beautiful. And so the challenge is like I don't I obviously can't keep up that pace of being that busy nonstop, but can I decide that when I have some downtime that there are things that I can do that are analog that are old school and not just consuming brain rotting brain rotting. Nathan asked me a provocative question this past week, which was what did you like to do before your phone?

[18:40] Laura Camien: And I was like, Can you remember?

[18:44] Susan Blackwell: I feel gross. I just remember um uh reading a lot more. That's that's loved reading. A lot more reading, a lot more reading, and brain rot makes it difficult for for our brain to focus long enough.

[18:58] Laura Camien: Yeah, have definitely shortened.

[19:01] Susan Blackwell: I am building that muscle just period, full stop. This whole thing got me feeling pretty down, like the dumbing down of the human race has been happening for hundreds of years, and it feels like we're just racing to the bottom faster than ever now, thanks to new technology that is more than happy to help us dumb ourselves down.

[19:25] Laura Camien: Yeah, and we're willingly doing it.

[19:29] Susan Blackwell: Yeah. We're consuming more slop faster than ever. So I started to intentionally think about its opposite.

[19:42] Laura Camien: Like what would it feel like?

[19:44] Susan Blackwell: The slopposit? The slopposite of brain rot.

[19:51] Laura Camien: Good one, Suze.

[19:52] Susan Blackwell: The slopposit. What would it feel like to be putting things in my brain that feel like growing something? Things that feel like neural synapses firing and connections being made in my brain.

[20:08] Laura Camien: I love that.

[20:09] Susan Blackwell: I love how that feels.

[20:11] Laura Camien: I know you love how that feels, Susan.

[20:14] Susan Blackwell: That feeling of a new idea that makes you feel alive, or learning an old idea that makes you feel connected to humans across time and space, or an idea that helps you understand someone else or yourself on a deeper level, an idea that creates space for more empathy in your brain.

[20:37] Laura Camien: What if I commit to feeling more of that in the new year and feeding my brain whatever is needed for that to happen? It's not slop, that's for sure.

[20:49] Susan Blackwell: Yeah.

[20:50] Laura Camien: And then I was reminded of how at Blue Man Group we used to talk about primordial soup or primordial ooze. If you're not familiar, primordial soup is a theory of how life was created on Earth. That the water, the gases in the atmosphere, the energy sources, the light and heat, all of it combined, were so rich with organic matter that life simply sprang forth. And in the coming year, this is my resolution. Because I'm pretty sure today is the day before January 1st. Am I right?

[21:32] Susan Blackwell: I think that's right.

[21:34] Laura Camien: Future me is saying these words. In the coming year, I want to commit to thinking of my brain like that. I want to treat it like it is fertile ground. It is primordial soup filled with so many ideas and inspirations that the possibility of life and opportunity and growth is present all the time. All I have to do is feed it what it needs, and life will evolve from it.

[22:06] Susan Blackwell: And how do you think you're gonna do it, Laura?

[22:10] Laura Camien: I'm going to read more. I am going to make things with my hands. I am going to consume theater and art and film that stirs my soul. I am going to challenge myself to try new experiences that feel scary but exciting. All of that. All of that is how I'm going to feed my brain what it needs.

[22:43] Susan Blackwell: That's a good soup.

[22:44] Laura Camien: I just I invite you, Susan. I invite all of our listeners to join me. We would say at Blue Man that the goal of the show is to connect all of us on a primordial level to create a heightened sense of being alive. As in, let's remember what it is to be human, to be alive. Let's remember that we all come from the same source material. And it's not slop. That ain't where it's at. That's very rich. Very rich. It is possible for life to spring forth from any and all of us. In our world, of course, we're obsessed with life in the form of creativity. Any and all creativity that fights for the powers of good. And I just want to invite you, Susan, and you dear listeners, to imagine what might spring forth from you if only you feed your brain something other than slop. Let's not let our brains rot. Let's nourish our brains and invite more life to emerge in 2025.

[23:56] Susan Blackwell: I love this, Laura Camien. Right on time. Great message. Great message for the dawning new year. And it reminds me of the post-it I have had on my computer for some time now. Consume less, create more. Create more. And if I was gonna get more specific. Consume less slop.

[24:19] Laura Camien: Consume less slop. Create more. Create more. I feel like, and I think I'm sharing this or have already shared this by this time on social. But you know, last night I went to see on Broadway, The Hills of California. And it is not an uplifting show. And nonetheless. Uplifting because it's so fucking good. I left there so energized. I'd been having a really hard week. I had been really struggling, feeling like a toddler wanting to have a tantrum at all times about like I need a nap, I need food, I need this, I need that. Just like just feeling so not good. And then I went to see that show. That made me feel connected to my friend Jenny who I was there with, connected to these strangers who I spoke to at intermission because we were so moved by what we were experiencing.

I felt connected to humanity. I felt reminded of what it feels like to be alive. This heightened sense of being alive. And God dang it. If that's not what it's all about, Suze, I don't even know why we're doing anything we're doing.

[25:49] Susan Blackwell: That's just gonna it right there. That's gonna be a good 2025. I love, I think this is a wonderful thing to hold in our sights. It's a really, really good North Star. I also I'll say if anybody is moved by this, if it's something that you want to jump on our bandwagon, come to the New Year's Creativity Kickoff. That is also anti slop. That is like it's anti slop. Fun deliciousness. You'll be swimming around in primordial soup with other people, creativity bursting from creativity bursting from your soup.

[26:29] Laura Camien: There's our pull quote.

[26:31] Susan Blackwell: There you go. There's our new marketing campaign.

[26:34] Laura Camien: There it is. You'll leave with creativity bursting out of your soup.

[26:41] Susan Blackwell: Yeah. Laura, that was beautiful and inspiring. And I have to tell you, in all seriousness, you have done several sparks that we just mentioned around the attention economy, boredom and its necessity for creativity. This spark. And I think it was during attention economy that you talked about how I was expressing how hard it is, especially when I'm fatigued.

[27:10] Laura Camien: Mm-hmm.

[27:10] Susan Blackwell: To resist the pull of the scroll. And you were like, and it's designed to be addictive. So it's it's you know, you can't. But we have to take responsibility for ourselves. We have to, because you can't win against it. If you think like I can consume this slop and my attention span isn't changing, incorrect. It is. It is. And it's just, you know, a lot of people over the course of the pandemic, like we stopped getting as much exercise or working out or whatnot. And um people expressed like, oh, I feel out of shape. I don't feel as strong as I used to be. We notice it when we can't lift things that we used to be able to lift.

[28:03] Laura Camien: Correct.

[28:04] Susan Blackwell: Right? Or we can't run or walk as long as we could without. This is what's happening to our brains. It's the it's the neurological equivalent. And we have to say, oh my gosh, I need to work out my brain a little bit more. I've got to give it what it needs, or else, as my dad used to say, and he was talking about muscles, but he would say all the time, use them or lose them.

[28:31] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[28:32] Susan Blackwell: And so this is where brain our brain we're talking about. Use it or lose it. Laura, I appreciate the spark. I really feel like I got a little soapboxy.

[28:44] Laura Camien: Uh enjoy that.

[28:45] Susan Blackwell: I'll take it. It's gonna it's gonna carry me through this this 2025. Dive it, you know what? When we have that little image that Jill Dreyer has of like the 10 meter tower and um diving into it, I think in the bottom, the bottom of it should be primordial soup that we're diving into. Rich, rich creative primordial soup.

[29:08] Laura Camien: There we go.

[29:09] Susan Blackwell: That's it. This episode of the Spark File was made on the lands of the Lenape and the Mohican people, and as always, we hope it put another bunch of sparks in your file. Hey, listen, if there's a spark you'd like us to explore, or if you'd like to learn more about how to coach with us to accomplish your creative goals, email get creative at thesparkfile.com, or you can reach us through our website, thesparkfile.com. We'll even happily take your feedback. But you know the price of admission. First, you have to share a creative risk that you've taken recently.

[29:41] Laura Camien: You can follow us on social at the sparkfile and be sure to subscribe, rate, and five star review this podcast. It really helps other listeners to find us. Also, if you liked this podcast, we hope you'll share it with people that you love. And if you didn't like it, take your opinion and toss it into the avalanche of slop that's flowing by you. Because we won't see it. If something lights you up and gets your creative sparks playing, we're writing you a forever permission slip to make that thing that's been knocking at your door. It's your turn to take that spark and fan it into a flame.

[30:18] Laura Camien: You know, you gotta take it and make it when I bow into something that inspires me. I dump it in the sparkfire. Spark could be something that I wanna make or how I wanna be. I'll pump it in the spark fire. I jump into my spark fire. Let's open up the sparkfire.