Mindless chanting of the rosary is nothing more than the religious equivalent of sending boilerplate letters to members of Congress. A sincere original prayer is much more effective.
People pray the prayers they learned as children. One of the victims of the Salem Witch trials, when asked to pray, began to pray in Gaelic her native language. Her accusers didn't understand Gaeli and she was hanged.
Fortunately we don't have the option to hang people here who want to pray the prayers they learned as children.
Actually, it’s like background music while you meditate on the mysteries of the faith. There are 3 total sets of 5 different mysteries. They are spread out one set a day. It’s really beautiful.
The rosary is a meditation prayer. You reflect on the life of Our Lord as you repeat the angel Gabriels greeting to Mary. Hail! Full of Grace. Truly beautiful and a powerful prayer against the powers of evil. The Our Father is of course the prayer Jesus taught to us. Your comments seem dismissive of these two facts from the Bible.
Mindless is certainly not the way to pray. We pray the Our Father as Jesus told us (Matthew 6;6-13) and we ask His Mother Mary to pray with us.
Catholics like to reflect and meditate on the mysteries, For example:
The Agony of Christ in the Garden.
The Scourging at the Pillar.
The Crowning with Thorns.
The Carrying of the Cross.
The Crucifixion and Death of Our Lord on the Cross.
Reflecting on the suffering of Christ can bring one closer to Jesus and help us be willing to avoid sin and offer our earthly suffering to God as he suffered so much for us.