brain rot
What doesbrain rot mean?
Brain rot refers to material of low or addictive quality, typically in online media, that preoccupies someone to the point it is said to affect mental functioning. Both the state of preoccupation and resulting mental degradation are known asbrain rot.
The word is also spelled asbrainrot,brain-rot.
Examples ofbrain rot
So yeah, I done got myself addicted to my first phonebrain rot game.
—@hulkhoquinn.bsky.social,Bluesky, 27 Nov. 2024
In hair and makeup for another photo shoot, [actor] Greta Lee read extremelybrainrot-y phrases aloud — “Mother’s face card never declines! Queen is in her lunch era!” — from an iPhone screen with confusion.
—Y’all, I have Bridgertonbrain rot. Ever since season 3 dropped, I eat, sleep, and breathe Bridgerton content.
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Where doesbrain rot come from?
Brain rot combinesbrain (in the sense of “mind, intellect, critical faculties”) androt (meaning “a state of disease or decay,” as in food or wood).
The term gained mainstream attention in 2023 and 2024 in connection to several trends involving repetitive, nonsensical use of content about such Internet slang terms asFanum tax,gyatt,sigma,skibidi, andrizz. Around this time,brain rot became the popular name for this content—often absurdist, ironic, and intentionally poor in quality—as well as for an unhealthy state of being addicted to and addled by it.
While newly prominent, the term it is not itself new, and can be found in several independent cases since at least the mid-1800s. The earliest known example comes, notably, from Henry David Thoreau in his 1854 bookWalden: “While England endeavors to cure the potato-rot, will not any endeavor to cure thebrain-rot, which prevails so much more widely and fatally?” As a term in specific reference to digital media production and consumption,brain rot has been in use since the early 2000s.
How isbrain rot used?
Brain rot can be used as a noun itself (‘Stop looking at thatbrain rot’) as well as attributively, to modify another noun (‘My brother wouldn’t stop using all thisbrain rot YouTube lingo at the dinner table’). Depending on speaker and context, its tone can range from dismissively pejorative (‘worthlessbrain rot’) to ironically playful (‘just published some newbrain rot for my fans’).
Brain rot is not itself an official medical condition. However, some healthcare practitioners or related experts may use the term colloquially in association with a phenomenon known as Problematic Interactive Media Use, involving symptoms of cognitive impairment resulting from overconsumption of digital media.
