I've seen this video pop up a few times, both in conversation with friends, and mostly online. It's been controversial due to showing of a lifestyle that, according to comments and online feedback, reeks of "larp", a term that has become popular in recent years on the internet as a synonym for a "poser", or someone who pretends to like something or partake in something for the sake of garnering attention or validation.

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I've watched the video for myself, as well as looked at some of the other videos on unwiredo's channel, and I wanted to discuss it since there has been an influx of people online that post their performative setups for internet points, and I want to analyze this video to see if the hate is justified.

The good

I think if this lifestyle he portrays in his video actually works for him, then it's a nice thing to talk about it and give advice on what's worked and what hasn't. As people begin to become more aware of how their devices are trapping them in distraction and laziness, some of these types of videos can help give some genuine advice regarding how to optimize your setup to reduce distraction and be productive.

I particularly liked how he mentions that having a million devices that do different things was something he didn't want to do purposelessly (which he doesn't really follow honestly (which I'll talk about later)). I do think that seperating tasks into different devices can be a good thing, though I could also suggest specifically for computer tasks that, rather than having different laptops like he does, to instead have different users on the same computer. You could have a user account focused specifically on work, and one on leisure, or some operating systems allow you to make multiple desktops so you can easily switch between doing one task with several things open and another seamlessly.

I also like how he acknowledges that the setup works for him, and it may not work for everyone else, and this is the main point that prevents me from completely dismissing this video. If this setup works for him, good for him. I think it's important that everyone finds their own way to, as he puts it, "live intentionally", and so I'm glad he doesn't try to push this as THE setup YOU NEED to break out of social media and brainrot.

The bad

I actually originally planned on calling this section "The questionable", but as I wrote more and more of it and looked more into things, some parts honestly raised enough concern for me to no longer see the genuineness of this video, and to change this to "The bad".

"Anti-brainrot"

It's ironic that the video discusses anti-brainrot, and yet the editing style of the video is comprised mostly of quick cuts and lots of camera movements, as if jingling keys to keep your attention. It may not be done on purpose, as its become the norm for editing among YouTubers nowadays, but it feels disingenous for a video focused on reducing distractions and being productive.

It can also be seen as a little bit hypocritical for a video of this subject to be made by a content creator on YouTube, but considering it's essentially the main platform for these people to speak out about this issue to a broad audience, I don't think this is a real issue.

"Consumerism"

The comments for this video are mostly people blatantly dismissing the video and labelling it as "larp" in some humorous quip, but some comments do bring up his "consumerism", relating to all the things he actually has.

I want to say that, again, if this setup works for him, then I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but I also do think there's something odd about having two e-readers, two notebooks, two backpacks, two laptops, etc., and proposing that as your anti-brainrot everyday carry. The video doesn't mention being a minimalist setup, but I would want to keep things simple to not overwhelm myself with having so much bulk around, it feels excessive. In my opinion, achieving a balance between minimizing your setup and having enough different utilities to do your tasks is important to escaping the trap of not being able to do work.

Most of the devices he shows are bought second-hand, which helps reduce e-waste and saves money, so I think outright dismissing it as "peak consumerism" is a tiny bit disingenuous, but I do think the setup overall is excessive. It sort of implies that if you want to escape brainrot, you need to buy an e-reader, buy a portable game console, buy an old phone (or a flip phone as some people online have done, which I'm sorry, but is so damn stupid), and I don't think that's a good sentiment to promote.

You can have a flagship top of the line smartphone and not be addicted to brainrot, it's a matter of self-discipline and maybe having an old phone can help with that if that works for you, but I don't think replacing your current gear with old gear for the sake of reducing brainrot really works, as much as some content creators online would like to make you believe it does.

The small notebook he owns and shows the website for clearly shows that the notebook was 90 EUROS, which I'm sorry, but that's just outrageous for a notebook, and he seems keen on letting you know that the book is made of real leather and the quality of it in the video, which has nothing to do with being productive.

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Furthermore, the bigger e-ink tablet he owns cost 300 SECONDHAND. If you have that money to burn, you do you, but I think that pouring that much money into an anti-brainrot setup for such minor things is extremely uncessecary. Paired with buying doubles of basically everything, it's not a very cost-effective setup, making it impractical for a lot of people, and doesn't set a good look for the genuineness of this setup. It feels less like you're trying to escape brainrot and more like you wanted to spend money on things to look like you're escaping brainrot.

The "larp"

This section was sort of difficult to write because I wanted to try to be as objective as possible, trying to see how genuine his setup was while also acknowledging the ulterior motives of having some parts of it, since this is where the bulk of the hate for the video comes from.

Over time, people have begun to notice the fakeness of others online who want to pretend to have a certain lifestyle or like something for the sake of impressing others, hence the term "larping" has been popularized to describe this.

unwiredo's setup includes many devices that can be linked to current larped trends: having a Japanese laptop running Linux, owning a PSP, owning an e-reader (two of them!), etc.

Owning a Japanese laptop feels like it ties into the growing fetishization of Japan that is kind of associated a lot with larping, but he also outlines why he purchased it in another video, claiming that it's cheaper than a Thinkpad T480, a more popular option that's specced about the same. I kind of give it a pass, but I also think that some points he makes are moot, such as having more I/O than the T480, I don't know when this person is going to use a VGA port or a DVD player.

The e-reader he claims to use shows that he had several books he finished reading, so it seems like he does in fact use it. He also claims he uses the bigger one for writing and notes, which begs the question of "why carry around two notebooks if you have something that can digitally take notes?". He discussed in the beginning that he didn't want to carry a bunch of devices for different things, but it seems like his setup is extremely redundant, as if he doesn't really need, or even use what he carries in a genuine way.

I have a hard time believing all the claims he makes about his PSP. He claims it changed his focus and his relationship with games, but it's difficult to believe that when in the video, his PSP only has two games on it, an Initial D racing game, and God of War, both of which he only shows playing the very first stages of. He actually made ANOTHER video talking about his PSP, where the same issue applies there, only showing the title screens or first minutes of the games he has downloaded. He doesn't once talk about what games he's enjoyed on the system itself, which makes it hard to believe that this single device convinced him to rework his whole setup and become more "productive" and "anti-brainrot".

Is the hate justified?

As I've formed somewhat of an opinion from writing this, I want to say that I don't think I downright hate this video, but I do have a lot of grievances with it, and while I think some of the hate is dismissive, I think that some of it is valid criticism.

Because of how ingenuine some of his setup feels, I feel this video promotes consumerism with how many uncessecary things he owns, how MUCH he spent on said things, and the actual practicality of the setup. A lot of these devices feel less like they actually contribute to the setup in a purposeful way and feel more like a fashion item for the "aesthetic", so I think some of the people calling him a "larper" are valid.

There's many videos popping up like this one, and I think it sucks because these videos push anti-brainrot and productivity as a trend and an aesthetic rather than a genuinely beneficial lifestyle choice, and I think in this era of misinformation and disillusionment with social media and the internet, we need good resources for people to learn how to escape the brainrot.

I do not have any good resources myself to direct people to, but I think if I had to give some advice, it's that escaping brainrot and being more productive is a matter of discipline, and like many things, there are no shortcuts other than simply not partaking in time-wasters, or learning how to partake in a healthy way.

• Set timers on distracting apps and websites. Phones have tools for screen time and for websites, you can install extensions like LeechBlock to limit your time or block websites.
• Start hobbies. And start simple, don't overwhelm yourself with spending money and time. Have fun.
• Learn to engage with social media in a healthy way that doesn't waste time. I believe easing your way out of social media use rather than going cold turkey works better for people.

I'm not an expert in this, but those tips helped me in my journey, and I learned this from experience and research, you just need to look into what works for yourself, do your own research, and learn what works for your needs.