Brainrot: A Meme or a Genuine Cognitive Concern?

Meaning and Origin of ‘Brainrot’

In 2025, researchers highlighted “brainrot” — named Oxford’s 2024 Word of the Year — as a term capturing the creeping sense that our minds are being slowly dulled by endless streams of low-effort online content. More than just a catchy buzzword, brainrot describes the real fear that, by constantly scrolling through trivial memes, videos, and social media, we’re risking the erosion of our ability to think deeply, focus, or even enjoy life offline. Symptoms go well beyond just wasted hours: people report anxiety when separated from their phones, restlessness if not multitasking, and a general slump in motivation for meaningful activities. The digital world’s constant pull can make it harder to savour books, conversations, and the kind of quiet moments that once recharged us.

‘Brainrot’ has been further popularised online, especially by Gen Alpha, who have enriched the phenomenon with slang such as Rizz (to have ‘rizz’ means to have charm), Delulu (to be delusional), Skibidi (a filler word that can virtually mean anything), and 6 7 (also meaningless but perhaps the most popular).

On TikTok, the #Brainrot hashtag has over 3 million posts, and over 2 million on Instagram, with related hashtags including #brainrotmemes, #aibrainrot, and #skibiditoilet.

Gen Alpha and Gen Z: Digital Minds

In 2026, it is virtually impossible not to have met someone aged 0-16 who repeats Brainrot slang. This is exacerbated by the fact that Brainrot has now also turned into an actual business, with countless toys and leisure activities targeted at this young demographic in ‘Brainrot’ style — comical, nonsensical, often AI-generated (also known online as ‘AI slop’). Brainrot has in this way managed to escape its virtual reality and enter our physical world.

The Pew Research Center reports that when teens are separated from their phones, their emotional responses are mixed. According to recent surveys, around 74% of teens report feeling happy without their smartphones, and 72% experience a sense of peace. Yet, the absence of a phone is also linked to less positive feelings: 44% of teens say it can make them anxious, 40% feel upset, and 39% report feeling lonely at times. The report also states that teens spend an average of 3.6 hours on their smartphones, excluding school-related screen time. This data highlights the complicated relationship young people have with their devices — balancing moments of relief with bouts of discomfort when disconnected.

Similar statistics exist for young adults. In 2025, DataReportal attested that people aged 16-34 spent an average of 7 hours a day on their screens. 62.1% of the 16-24 age bracket used it to contact friends and family, 61.1% to find information, and 59.3% to watch videos and shows. In the 25-34 age bracket, 58% used it to keep in touch with loved ones, 58.5% to find information, and 56.2% to watch videos and shows.

On the total time spent, TikTok was #2, preceded by YouTube, and Instagram was #5, preceded by WhatsApp. This shows that although Gen Z’s investment in ‘Brainrot’ is not as active as that of earlier generations — as they do not engage with the trend, fomenting it through its slang and meme-sharing — they are still in the crosshairs of this hyper-cyber-connectedness.

The Aftermath of Brainrot

Social media’s grip on our daily lives is now central to any honest discussion about brainrot, especially for young adults. Research from the neuroscience journal Brain Sciences shows that scrolling through Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok isn’t just a way to pass time — it’s a carefully engineered experience designed to capture and keep our attention for hours.

The addictive pull comes from a dopamine-fueled feedback loop, where every like, notification, and flashy video gives us a small thrill, nudging us to keep scrolling. Before we know it, a quick check turns into an hour-long session, and stopping feels strangely difficult. For young people, this digital compulsion can blur into something like addiction, especially when the need for digital engagement becomes so strong that stepping away feels uncomfortable or even impossible. On top of that, the emotional cost of living so much of life online can’t be ignored — constant exposure to carefully curated lives and viral trends can leave people feeling left out, anxious, or never quite good enough.

There’s even new language for these habits. “Zombie scrolling” refers to the trance-like state in which our thumbs move while our minds barely register what we’re seeing. Then there’s “doomscrolling,” the urge to keep consuming bad news or distressing content, even when it leaves us feeling worse. Both habits feed into a growing sense of dissatisfaction and restlessness, fueled by an endless stream of information, advertising, and social comparison.

Many young adults recognise this cycle for what it is, calling it “social media brainrot.” They’re aware of how relentless the online world can be, with its pressure to keep up, look perfect, and never miss out. This constant stimulation can lead to mental fatigue — too much information to process, too much to compare ourselves against, and not enough time to rest.

Studies have shown that long stretches of digital engagement are linked to trouble focusing, remembering, and even making decisions. Our brains, bombarded by notifications and updates, struggle to dig deep or give full attention to a single task. Instead, we bounce from app to app, conversation to conversation, rarely pausing to reflect.

The danger isn’t just distraction. Over time, this kind of digital overwhelm can erode some of our most important mental skills: memory, attention span, and the ability to adapt and problem-solve. Relying on our phones for every answer makes it harder to think flexibly or tackle new challenges. In short, the very tools that promise to connect and empower us can, if we’re not careful, leave us feeling scattered and mentally drained.

Brainrot: Addiction or Adaptation?

Today, experts are also exploring whether we are genuinely losing our ability to concentrate or whether our brains are simply adapting to a new digital environment. Studies have, for instance, shown that when it comes to our attention spans, the damage is not caused by digital media per se, but by frequent switching between physical and digital platforms.

Why do screens sometimes seem just as good as paper for reading and focusing? One big reason is that the lines between digital and print have blurred. Today’s tablets, e-readers, and even phones are packed with features designed to make reading easier — think adjustable fonts, night modes, and distraction-free settings. These upgrades mean that reading a long article on a tablet can feel surprisingly similar to flipping through the pages of a book. On top of that, as we spend more time reading digitally, we get better at it. Our brains adapt to the quirks of screens, so the old disadvantages of digital reading aren’t nearly as pronounced as they once were. In the end, it’s less about the device and more about how we use it — and how comfortable we’ve become with this new way of reading.

In an interview with National Geographic, Daniel Willingham, a psychologist at the University of Virginia, declared that the question “is our attention span decreasing?” is a lot harder to answer than we might think — there really is not a straightforward answer, nor is it something we can fully control, he says:

“The mind wants to sample different things and see what’s going on in your environment. And in some ways, sustaining attention on the same thing for very long periods of time is not necessarily a natural state,” Willingham says, and then he adds, “Everyone’s bad at sustaining attention.” But, just like building a muscle at the gym, training your mind to focus gets easier the more you work at it. With patience and consistent effort, sustaining your attention can become second nature again — even in a world full of distractions.