The Brain Rot Epidemic: How Doomscrolling & Digital Overload Is Reshaping Our Youth

Courtesy of NBC News

t’s two in the morning, the house is quiet. You lay in bed, staring at the glowing rectangle in the palm of your hand as your thumb instinctively swipes up on the screen every few seconds or so. There’s a small voice in the back of your head that whispers, “Go to bed, it’s a Tuesday night.” However, you feel stuck in an endless loop of content, scrolling past memes, controversial news headlines, and comedy skits that blur together in a fog of stimulation. Every post could be the one that might make staying awake worth it, yet none truly satisfy your boredom. Your body feels heavy, your mind a haze, but your thumb keeps moving.

This is doomscrolling—a modern-day rabbit hole that many of us find ourselves unable to escape. Each swipe and scroll may seem harmless, but over time, this habit takes a toll on our minds. While you might think this is the worst it gets, ‘brain rot challenges that threshold by targeting younger audiences with low quantity and time-consuming content. But what exactly is brain rot, and how is it affecting us?

Named Oxford University Press’ 2024 word of the year, ‘brain rot’ is defined as the “supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state”. In today’s context, this refers to the negative impacts of constant low-value digital content consumption, which some studies have found leads to decreased attention spans and diminished cognitive function over time. Similarly, ‘brain rot’ also refers to the new slang vocabulary that has gained popularity amongst youth through the rapid spread of information across social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

Dr. Gloria Mark, the Chancellor’s Professor of Informatics at the University of California whose work primarily focuses on pre-teens and adolescents, has found that the average time people spend on a single computer screen before switching has decreased from 2.5 minutes to just 47 seconds in the past two decades. This statistic highlights a troubling trend: people are becoming increasingly drawn to short-form content as a form of dopamine-inducing entertainment.

Hence the short-form video explosion, where most videos last no more than 60 seconds. This shift in the way we engage with social media is changing the way brands and content creators are presenting themselves have also undergone a metamorphosis. The days of meticulous set-up and scripting are gone; now, it’s all about engaging the viewer and hooking them until the end. This doesn’t pose a great benefit for us. Not only does overconsumption of digital media disrupt day-to-day tasks, but it also affects performance at school and work. Moreover, with the way creators are taking advantage of the algorithm by employing popular audios and trends to push their content, more and more people are being exposed to brain rot as their feeds are flooded with repetitive, attention-grabbing media that prioritizes quantity over quality.

Furthermore, the pervasive nature of digital consumption has also raised societal concerns about our youth’s ability to engage in meaningful interactions and cultivate genuine connections as we become increasingly tethered to our screens rather than the world around us. In recent years, the term ‘iPad kid’ has emerged to describe children in Generation Alpha who are addicted to screens. It’s not surprising that the amount of digital content that kids consume threatens their physical and emotional development, as a Japanese study found that children who spent more than 4 hours on their devices were five times more prone to stunted communication skills.

Not only does the overconsumption of digital content hinder our ability to socialize, it fundamentally changes how we speak and communicate with each other. In April of 2024, TEDx released a speech where linguist Adam Aleksic described how we are entering a new era of language that’s driven by social media algorithms. Words like ‘rizz’, ‘skibidi’, ‘gyatt’, and ‘sigma’ have all gone viral due to TikTok, one of the pioneer social media platforms that dominate the ‘brain rot’ game. Just like the way the algorithm analyzes what’s trending and spreads the content, TikTok’s users have also played a significant role in popularizing these terms. There has been an increasing amount of individuals who have adopted ‘brain rot’ into their daily vocabulary, especially in young adolescents.

Despite the concerns and that have risen from the overconsumption of digital media, should we be worried—or, more importantly, are we ‘cooked’?

On the contrary, Aleksic reassures us that we have nothing to worry about. He argues that the use of brain rot is merely the “shared mockery of incel ideas” and kids aren’t suffering from brain rot just because they’re using these ridiculous-sounding words; it’s been historically proven that the younger generation will adopt new slang to differentiate themselves from the older generations (believe it or not, saying ‘cool’ and ‘high five’ was considered unusual just a couple of decades ago).

While language evolution is a natural part of cultural shifts, addressing the harmful habits and algorithms driving this digital overconsumption is the real challenge. As society adapts to this new digital age, the importance of balance in an increasingly screen-centric society becomes progressively evident. Ultimately, the brain rot epidemic reflects the growing pains of a digitally connected world. Instead of fearing change, we should focus on fostering healthier habits, promoting mindful media consumption, and staying aware of how digital trends shape our lives. By doing so, we can ensure that technology enhances rather than diminishes our human connections and intellectual growth. After all, a little brain exercise never hurt anyone—so maybe it’s time to put down the phone and pick up a book.

Works Cited

Heaton, Benedict. ““Brain Rot” Named Oxford Word of the Year 2024 – Oxford University Press.” Oxford University Press, 2 Dec. 2024, corp.oup.com/news/brain-rot-named-oxford-word-of-the-year-2024/.

Hendy, Eloise. “IPad Kids Are Getting out of Hand.” VICE, VICE, 21 Nov. 2023, www.vice.com/en/article/ipad-kids-gen-alpha-childhood-development/.

Rubina. “Attention Spans Are Shorter than Your Coffee Break: A Deep Dive into 2024 Video Trends.” 90 Seconds, 21 Mar. 2024, 90seconds.com/blog/video-trends-2024/. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.

Singularity. “FBL #79: Gloria Mark on Attention Spans in the Digital Age.” Www.su.org, 14 Nov. 2022, www.su.org/resources/understanding-attention-in-the-digital-age.Takahashi, Ippei, et al. “Screen Time at Age 1 Year and Communication and Problem-Solving Developmental Delay at 2 and 4 Years.” JAMA Pediatrics, vol. 177, no. 10, 21 Aug. 2023, jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2808593?guestAccessKey=59506bf3-55d0-4b5d-acd9-be89dfe5c45d&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=082123, https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.3057.