Measuring Cognitive and Emotional Resources with “Menpa”

Cognitive Resource Drain

We’re in an era of seriously high cognitive load.

Things were tough in the past too, obviously, but now we’ve got:

• Always-on connectivity
• Algorithmic optimization
• Competition for attention
• Information flows that amplify anxiety
• Behavioral nudges from finance, social media, and AI

all layered on top of each other — a structure where, if you just go with the flow, your mental energy gets drained.

What makes it especially insidious is that most modern services are optimized not for “user wellbeing,” but for:

• Time on site
• Monetization
• Dependency
• Stimulation
• Retention

So it ends up being more rational, from a business standpoint, to:

• Stoke anxiety
• Make people angry
• Trigger comparison
• Stimulate desire
• Create urgency

Attack on Emotional Resources

Social media started out as a tool for keeping in touch with friends, but now it’s half “social anxiety amplification machine.”

• “Am I falling behind?”
• “I need to make more money”
• “Will AI replace me?”
• “Everyone else’s life looks more fulfilling”

You’re soaking in this all day long.

And in the AI era, there’s this widespread feeling that “even knowledge work isn’t safe” — which is pretty significant. It’s not just garden-variety economic anxiety; it cuts closer to a sense of “do I even have value as a person?”

So it makes total sense that terms like “mental performance” (menpa) are starting to appear. Beyond just skill and effort:

• Not letting your mind get ground down
• Protecting your cognitive resources
• Being able to cut off information
• Staying calm
• Keeping up your habits

these things themselves are becoming critical “survival skills.”

In a sense, modern life is forcing us into a tower defense game for our mental landscape.