Why Teenagers Seek 'Brain Rot' Content on Social Media
Ask teenagers these days what their Tik Tok ‘For You’ page looks like and they’ll probably describe the content flooding their feed as “brain rot”, a word that became popular enough over the last year to be declared the Oxford Word Of The Year.
“Brain Rot” is being increasingly used by Gen-Zers to describe what researchers call “low-value,low-impact” content. While not a clinical diagnosis, brain rot describes the “deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state,” often caused by overconsumption of material, particularly online, according to the Oxford University Press.
But while use of the word increased 230% in 2023 and 2024, it was actually first used as early as 1854 in David Henry Thoreau’s book Walden.
Thoreau criticizes society’s tendency to devalue complex ideas, or those that can be interpreted in multiple ways, in favour of simple ones, and sees this as indicative of a general decline in mental and intellectual effort: “While England endeavours to cure the potato rot, will not any endeavour to cure the brain-rot – which prevails so much more widely and fatally?”
Today teenagers aren’t taking the term as seriously as Thoreau did. For them, brain-rot is an escape from the negativity they are constantly subjected to. In some ways, they’ve formed an oasis of escape amidst the much more serious content they see online, like war and the climate crisis that they often feel they can’t solve. Research by Psyche explored what brain rot means to teenagers today, and most of their responses were based around the same idea: a way to not have to think so seriously for a while.
Brain rot content can include Mukbang - where content creators eat excessive amounts of food or the wildly popular Skibidi Toilet series created by Alexey Gerasimov, which features animations of a human-like head spinning in a toilet
Is it really harmless?
But despite what teenagers believe, researchers and medical experts aren’t all that convinced.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta warns that being dependent on social media may be harming mental health. In an interview with CNN Health, he explained brain rot includes overstimulation and fatigue caused by excessive screen use.
Dr. Elena Touroni, a consultant psychologist, described the term to The Telegraph as your brain is under stress “with too many tabs open.”
They may not be wrong. More and more people are reporting increased amounts of fatigue, brain fog and even being unable to remember things they want to. Experts believe that an over-consumption of this low quality content is leading to a decline in cognitive function.
When we spend hours surfing and scrolling, we consume huge quantities of meaningless data, negative news, and perfectly retouched photos of friends and celebrities that make us feel inadequate. Trying to absorb and cope with massive amounts of content creates mental fatigue. And that can lead to a drop in motivation, focus, productivity, and energy over time, especially in young people.
Social media addiction is a sign of brain rot too. Users can’t stop checking platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Constant notifications, bright colors, and stimulating sounds can literally mesmerize them, causing them to stop thinking clearly.
There’s no beating around the bush. Brain rot is caused by excessive technology use. Those late night scrolls on Instagram before you sleep, or when you find yourself spending hours on TikTok videos without realising, are a lot worse for you than just wasting your time.
Realistically, we’re not going to go tech-free in our lives, but here’s some ways in which we can manage our Brain Rot.
- Practice Mindfulness - Mindfulness techniques are powerful antidotes to mindless virtual excesses like immersive gaming, Internet surfing or streaming the vast television wasteland. Mindfulness meditation and conscious deep breathing keep your brain from wandering and your focus sharp.
- Schedule out “tech-free” time - Whether it’s by yourself or with friends and family, try to schedule out a portion of your time that involves screen free activities - like playing board games, cooking or even art
- Strengthen Your Mind If you’re concerned your mind could be turning to mush, challenge it. The mind is like a muscle. It grows with exertion. Rather than scrolling, learn a foreign language or a new technical skill. Study a philosophical concept that expands your worldview. Sharpen your mind with mathematical or word puzzles
- Go Outdoors. Green time offsets screen time. Brain scans of people who spend time in nature show that their prefrontal cortex has more gray matter and a stronger ability to think clearly and self-regulate. Your brain loves spending a minimum of two hours a week in parks, woodlands or beaches.
With our digital usage increasing exponentially, and our dependency on social media increasing everyday it’s crucial to keep the consequences in mind.
Anmol Irfan is a freelance journalist, editor and the co-founder of Echoes Media. Her work focuses on marginalised narratives in the Global South, looking at gender, climate, tech and more. She tweets @anmolirfan22
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