The internet is an expansive store of knowledge where people from completely different backgrounds blend together to create a massive global community. Some of these web-users create well-informed posts about meaningful topics, while others create posts that serve no purpose at all. Although the second type of people have done this since the internet became mainstream, lately the internet has been taken over by a completely new level of absurdity by the name of ‘brain rot’.
Brain rot is a new social media style where creators make the most low quality and degenerate content possible. This mode of content-creation has been used to attract young people, especially kids of Gen Alpha (those born 2013 onwards). For example, Skibidi Toilet, which was created by Alexey Gerasimov in early 2023, contains a multitude of ten or twenty second videos pertaining to a war between toilets with heads and robotic killers called Cameramen (forbes.com).
Feeling your brain decompose yet?
This new form of content-creation has strengthened the language gap between parents and their children. Freshman Jesiah Horta explains that his parents, “look at me like I’m crazy,” every time he brings his brain rotted vocabulary up with them. Though it is not uncommon for the parents of different generations to not understand the words and sayings of the next, the spread of brain rot has taken a much different turn.
The sheer number of social media users in the world is colossal, which creates a faster and more versatile way for new terms to be created and forgotten. For example, to members of older generations, like Mr. Gonzalez, a history teacher at North, the word “sigma” is just another letter in the Greek alphabet. However, to kids of this generation, sigma is used to describe a person who stands out from the crowd and is very charismatic. On the other hand, terms like “kicking it old school,” which Gen Xers use to refer to relaxation, have completely fallen out of the language of younger generations.
Despite the fact that most parents, regardless of generation, don’t understand the terms that their children bring home with them, many people believe that brain rot is a serious threat to their kids’ minds. Some adults feel that brain rot is annoying and that it hinders the development and educational prowess of their children. In a world that is characterized by the spread of the internet, many caretakers curate their kids’ social media feeds to give them a chance to be free from brain rot (calm.com). Many parents fear for their children’s futures as brain rot impedes on their development, and causes irrational thinking. Side effects of brain rot include a lowered amount of memory, lessened problem-solving skills, and declined decision making abilities (newportinstitute.com).
As the world progresses, it will be interesting to see what brain rot develops into, and how it will continue to affect people. The extent to which the language gap between different generations deteriorates will be a key factor in the future, as the way we communicate will be forever changed. As the internet becomes more and more popular, and social media sites become more accessible, it will be intriguing to understand the long-term effects of the rotting of the brain.
