I'm going to hold your hand when I say this…: The Brainrot Phenomenon

“Brainrot” is the state of addictive consumption of low-quality, mindless content. Join Erin as this article explores what it is, its effects, and how it has seeped its way into our everyday lives.

Hey! So this is actually insanely bad for your dopamine receptors and attention span…

Social media and the advent of the Internet in general has given way to a proliferation of colourful slang that has since seeped its way into our day-to-day speech. 

For those that may not be aware, brainrot is a term to describe Internet content (memes, slang, videos) of degenerative quality that has harmful physical and psychological effects on its users – such as lethargy, shortened attention span, and higher anxiety levels.  It has even been crowned the 2024 Oxford Word of the Year. 

Recent trends at the time of writing include - Having “rizz”, “Wait, they don’t love you like I love you”, having multiple screens open showing carpet cleaning videos,  someone playing the game Subway Surfers alongside the main video, ‘hopecore’, and remembering to credit Beyoncé whenever something good happens to you. 

It’s probably best if you don’t get any of the aforementioned references. 

Brainrot has even entered into corporate marketing. For instance, a recent TikTok trend has emerged wherein brands and companies feature a spokesperson who is obviously not Gen Z and try to market their products or services using exclusively Gen Z language. The captions of the videos are usually titled, “Letting the Gen Z intern write our marketing script”. 

Furthermore, Brainrot has even made its way into the political realm. For instance, 29 year old Australian senator Fatima Payman decided to give Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang a go during her parliamentary speech in an effort to cater to the future generation of voters. 

“To the sigmas of Australia, I say that this goofy ahh government has been capping not just now but for a long time. A few of you will remember when they said, “there will be no fanum tax under the government I lead”, they’re capaholics! They’re also yapaholics!” 

It only gets worse from there. 

While this proved to be a hilarious meme for Gen Zs, other Millenials and Gen X’s may not necessarily feel the same way. In general, slang is essentially a marker of speech to distinguish youths from adults. Such usage in certain instances, could be useful but could potentially be polarising and enhance generation gaps. 

To think, we used to have Shakespeare and now we have ‘skibidi toilet rizz’. 

The word ‘brainrot’ itself has a very negative connotation. While it appears to be Gen Z’s attempt at making light internet users’ crippling addictions to social media and being ‘chronically online’, in reality, the harmful effects are apparent. 

A common way to engage in brainrot is ‘doomscrolling’, i.e. staring at one’s phone for long periods of time, consuming large amounts of negative social media content. Studies have shown that such behaviour can take a toll on one’s cognitive functions such as problem solving abilities, memory recall, and attention span. In addition, ‘doomscrolling’ can desensitise brain stimuli from negative news due to the overabundance of disheartening content it receives. In the long run, this could weaken our ability to empathise with others and hinder us from processing our emotions healthily.  

Admittedly, brainrot does demonstrate that Gen Z is self aware about the negative impact of overconsumption of online content but making memes and laughing about them on the Internet doesn’t actually help the problem. Making an effort to put down your phone and go outside can be daunting, but it helps when you have friends alongside you to cheer you on and fight against brainrot together!

While some of us may not use such terms outside of internet usage, I am quite certain that all SMU students use this slang – the SMU slang. Though nowhere near Brainrot quality and borne out of convenience and functionality, SMU does have its own set of in-group language that other people from other universities would not be able to understand upon first hearing it.

Initialisms like ‘GSR’, ‘LKS’, ‘E&S’ and abbreviations like ‘Connex’ and ‘T-junc’ are some examples of terms that are commonly used by SMU students. These terms would otherwise be meaningless to other university students or outsiders in general.. 

Such ‘exclusive’ language can have positive implications. Linguists like to call this ‘in-group language’ because only those belonging to the ‘in-group’ would understand and be able to use these terms in their speech. It helps to foster a sense of camaraderie amongst the in-group members and makes people feel like they are part of a community. 

Hence, slang is not in any way bad. It is a linguistic phenomenon that simply becomes inevitable as humans talk and interact with each other. Only when it is used to hinder meaningful conversation or impede intellectual growth, can it then become a problem.

Language is extremely powerful and can be used as a tool to influence, include, exclude, and inform. Try explaining the concept of brainrot to your parents. Though, truth be told, if you asked me to explain what ‘skibidi toilet’ means, I would not be able to give you an answer. 

As Internet speak continues to develop and words are constantly redefined or foregone, I am excited to see what the future holds. Will the Brainrot Phenomenon flourish or be left as another temporal Internet trend that we will look back fondly on in the future?