Pratishtha Gupta ☕

trying to define myself in ways that go beyond my job, acads, and everything else that shouldn't (ideally) count.

[Pratishtha Gupta ☕ @pratsgpt]

@iam_sago @_mrchaturvedi lolol I was like whaaaaaa hahaha nice joxxx

[‏ً @omgsidewalks]

The most underrated act of kindness is simply letting people be. Let them mispronounce a word, talk too much about a show they love, or get excited about something you don't quite understand. Everyone has something that lights them up, let them shine, even if it's not your thing.

[Anish Moonka @anishmoonka]

Went down the rabbit hole on this. Your brain treats a physical book like a landscape. It builds a spatial map of the text, the same way it maps trails, rooms, and city blocks. When you scroll on a phone, that map breaks apart.

Seven large-scale research reviews and direct brain scans confirm what you already feel.

A 2023 study in PLOS ONE attached brain-activity sensors to children’s heads while they read the same text on paper and on screen. Paper reading produced fast brain waves, the pattern linked to focused attention. Screen reading shifted the brain into slow waves, the pattern linked to mind wandering and daydreaming. Same kids. Same words. Measurably different brain states.

A separate 2022 study from Showa University in Japan scanned the front of the brain, the area that manages focus and comprehension, during phone versus paper reading. Smartphones sent that region into overdrive, meaning the brain was straining just to keep up with basic processing. Paper reading produced a moderate load that triggered natural deep breathing, which helped regulate brain function and sustain focus. The phone suppressed that breathing pattern entirely.

Since 2017, researchers have published seven major reviews combining hundreds of individual studies. Six of seven reached the same conclusion: people understand less on screens. A 2018 review of 54 studies and 170,000+ participants, literally titled “Don’t throw away your printed books,” found paper outperformed screens across the board for non-fiction. A 2024 follow-up with 49 more studies confirmed it. The gap has grown steadily every year since 2001. Being a “digital native” doesn’t help.

The best explanation is how your brain tracks where you are. Your short-term memory can only juggle about 7 things at once. A physical book gives you constant location cues: the weight shifting from right hand to left, where a paragraph sits on the page, how thick the remaining pages feel. Your brain hands off the “where am I in this text?” job to those physical signals, leaving more room for actually understanding what you’re reading. On a phone, every screen looks identical. Your brain has to track position and process meaning at the same time, and something gives.

A Norwegian eye-tracking study analyzing 25,000+ individual eye movements found screen readers processed text more shallowly. The students had no idea they were reading differently.

In 2019, nearly 200 reading scientists from 30+ countries signed an open letter warning that screen reading was degrading deep comprehension. Since then, Scandinavian countries, among the most digitized school systems on Earth, have started putting physical books back in classrooms.

[Reads with Ravi @readswithravi]

Han Kang on the importance of reading literature:

[Lavanya Mohan @lavsmohan]

What happens when you outsource thinking to chatgpt

[v! @coneyisland4eva]

dilli oh dilli they'll never make me hate you 🫶🏻❤️

[Pratishtha Gupta ☕ @pratsgpt]

@iam_sago love you more than you know (ngl wasn't expecting this cos 70% but best hai tu) :*

[Pratishtha Gupta ☕ @pratsgpt]

finally, took the plunge. :)

<still hearing this on loop; hard recommend watching the full video of dooron dooron - paresh pahuja live on YT kthnxbai>

https://t.co/Q3jdCoIvRt

[Pratishtha Gupta ☕ @pratsgpt]

@iam_sago so does mine (case in point - oldboy :P)

[Pratishtha Gupta ☕ @pratsgpt]

don't usually recommend books but evidence of the affair by taylor jenkins reid is an absolute beauty! trumps malibu rising, evelyn hugo, carrie soto, and daisy jones - cant put it off my head; can't like anything else rn.

(tysm @iam_sago <3)

[Reads with Ravi @readswithravi]

I'm in love with this sentence:

“Forgive yourself for not knowing earlier what only time could teach.”

[ساحل کاظمی @sahilkazmii]

kaun jaye zauq par dilli ki galiyan chhodkar

[Triiad ୭୭ @triiadxx]

"Maybe in another lifetime."

No. This is all you get. So please, just fight for the things that crack light into your life, fight for the things that soften you. Protect the people you love, leave them better than you found them.

[Pratishtha Gupta ☕ @pratsgpt]

@savitha 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

[Tóbi Bítàn🌻 @Tobi_Bitan]

Please, read books. Not just captions, or carousel posts, or what made it to the top of your feed. Read books. Long ones. Complex ones. You cannot build a mind with weight on the back of social media ephemerals. Intellectual depth demands patience.

[Ashwinn @Shwinnabego]

My agency (https://t.co/8Wcn3jHPjz) did the design for Zohran’s campaign.

While I wish I played a part, it was all the masterful work of my partners, Aneesh and Phil.

Having worked with these 2 for close to a decade, it’s no surprise they created what many consider (the most?) iconic political branding.

I’ve seen Aneesh go deep into the archives of typography and color theory, and Phil spend hours custom-building animations to bring a UI to life.

HYPED to see their work getting the credit it deserves.

[Pratishtha Gupta ☕ @pratsgpt]

@JatinLalitS @iam_sago

[Pratishtha Gupta ☕ @pratsgpt]

accidentally debuting in the media world, all hail @savitha and her magical words 🌻🥰

[savitha @savitha]

Had fun writing this piece on online fandoms for Deccan Herald’s Big Picture. #onlinefandoms #anime

https://t.co/U66gnAjCng

[kawaii 🪼 @magicmoxo]

No amount of chemistry can ever make up for the anxiety that comes from being with someone who’s emotionally inconsistent, unkind, or misaligned with your core values.