I have a weird symptom that is most noticeable when I'm trying to learn code language, which might've pushed me away from it for years. The code lines look so messy and nonsensical with all those braces, parantheses and other symbols that my immediate instinct is to look away, so as to protect my brain from effort. This brain protection stuff as I'll be calling it also happens with other complicated and unpleasant subjects like math and company management, when more than looking away, I'll completely and involuntarily turn off my brain and not comprehend/forget everything.

It also happens when I'm studying chinese, which should be more complicated than coding, but not nearly as difficult for me since I like it.

The thing is, when I was younger, as much as I hated certain subjects, I could still face and understand them, but now it literally feels like my brain is rotting.

I did use to take meds, but stopped due to little efficacy (even at the strongest dosages) and awful side effects, but at this point I'm reconsidering.

So how common is the brain protection thing? I'm pretty sure that my internet/quick reward addiction is a factor at play here, so would a dopamine detox help?