The Rise of Brain Rot and the Decline of the Teenage Mind

Italian brain rot characters such as Tralalero Tralala have become popular memes. *Image: SiQing Lin*

By STEFANIE RYKHLO with contributions from OLUWAJEMBOLA ORIOKE

You open TikTok, and in a blink, you’re drawn into a whirlpool of overwhelming content. An AI-generated ballerina with a coffee cup head pops up while an Italian voice screams "Tung Tung Sahur," and before you can even process it, the screen switches to a new overstimulating scene. It's all loud, fast, and absurd, but you don't stop scrolling. This is brain rot, the sensory overload that is taking over our screens and our sense of humor.

In December 2024, the Oxford University Press named "brain rot" as their Word of the Year. Defined as the decline of a person’s intellect due to an overconsumption of low-quality online content, “this term increased in usage frequency by 230% between 2023 and 2024,” particularly among Gen Z and Gen Alpha, they said. Could this Oxford award be a generational warning sign?

“I watched 20 minutes of the new ‘Italian brain rot,' and it genuinely felt like my brain was melting,” said Anna Vinokour '26. “It was just a generated voice screaming random words with generated creatures, but I couldn’t stop watching.”

The inability to resist is the problem. Brain rotting content is designed to be addictive. It is cognitive fuzz caused by repeated, triggering stimuli like loud noises, bright flashes, sped-up videos, and irritating memes. It triggers the brain's reward system frequently, making viewers mentally fatigued, consuming more but processing less.

"I can't sleep," said Kamila Khayrullayeva '26. “I lie in bed and it’s like my brain won’t stop scrolling. My mind is racing with sounds and quotes from TikTok.”

“Me and my friends have inside jokes that come from these brain rot videos,” said Anastasiia Savchyn ‘26. “Even if you don’t watch them, you will hear about them. You can’t escape.”

Brain rot content is not just something you watch; it also becomes a part of daily communication.

"My little sister keeps saying things like 'yogurt/gurt yo' and 'sigma' and playing Skibidi Toilet on repeat," said Khayrullayeva. "My mom had no clue what she was talking about. She asked if it was gibberish."

“I never thought I’d see my daughter watching YouTube and scrolling through videos on her phone at the same time,” said Oksana Savchyn, a Midwood parent. “She's laughing and switching from one thing to another. I'm wondering if she can even concentrate on something for more than a few seconds.”

But is there any hard evidence that our brain power is actually declining? Unfortunately, yes.

According to a Financial Times analysis of Monitoring the Future survey data, the percentage of teens reporting trouble concentrating or thinking has risen from around 15% in 2010 to over 22% by 2022. Similarly, the share of teens reporting difficulty learning new things has increased from 12% to nearly 18% in recent years.

And it’s not just young people. A separate report based on OECD PISA and Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey data shows that reasoning and problem-solving abilities are declining for both teens and adults in high-income countries. Among adults, average numeracy scores dropped from over 270 in 2012 to below 266 in 2022. Literacy scores also fell. Among teens, average scores in reading, math, and science have steadily dropped since 2012, the time when social media companies added the “like” and “share” buttons, leading to the algorithms we have now that reward immediacy and emotional reaction, not deep thinking.

What else has changed? In tech, there’s the introduction of infinite scroll and autoplay for videos (something that used to require an active click). Researchers also point out the increasing speed and short burst editing of videos over attempts to attract calm, sustained attention. Others highlight the long-term disruption to learning due to school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic. The truth is probably a mix of all of these factors, and possibly more.

“There are days where I scroll through Instagram for hours and then struggle to focus on my homework,” said Kyle Lin ’26. “Even when I try to stop, it feels like my brain can’t settle down enough to focus.”

“I used to love to read books. Now I can’t even get through one page without checking my phone,” said Anastasiia Savchyn. “Even during class I could be zoned out, thinking about the videos."

Brain rot is impacting more than just the ability to focus in class or read a book; it is also blocking a connection with the real world. "I'll be hanging out with my friends, but my mind is still replaying random TikToks," said Sonya Mnatsakanyan ‘28. “I don't feel like I'm fully present anymore."

Some students are starting to worry about how brain rot will affect their futures in the long run. "I can't imagine going to college with an attention span like this," said Kayden Trostinsky '27. "If I can't sit still for a 30-minute video, how will I even do work?"

So while the videos may be pointless, the harm can be real. There’s a growing worry that brain rot may not be a passing trend, but rather an ongoing effect that will follow teens into adulthood. If that’s true, what can be done to prevent it?

On an individual level, limiting social media time—even with small actions like taking regular breaks or setting daily screen-time caps—can help preserve mental clarity and attention.

One possible solution for schools is to create “digital hygiene” lessons that help students become more aware of their media habits. Understanding how algorithms work and how they’re designed to keep users hooked could help teens develop healthy boundaries.

Schools could also host “tech detox” weeks or encourage more analog activities — such as creative writing clubs or art competitions — to help students rediscover focus and reduce dependency on screens.

"I think if people really understand what's happening and take steps to limit their screen time, things could get better," says Vinokour. "Maybe we can fix it before it becomes a huge issue."

Both teens and adults need to spend time “working out” their brains with intellectual, long-form content, the opposite of a brain rot meme. Studies show a steady drop-off in reading time occurs in most children after 6th or 7th grade. Jason Agordorme ’26 has recently focused on taking up reading again after he realized he wasn’t reading as much as he used to.

However, the addictive qualities and pervasive draw of brain rot content make it difficult to picture attention spans fully recovering to what they were in the pre-digital era. “Brain rot” may have started as a joke, but it’s becoming a crisis we can't laugh off forever. The longer we scroll past the signs, the more damage we risk to our focus, learning, and future potential.

If we want to reclaim our attention spans, protect our intelligence, and rediscover what it feels like to truly learn, we’ll need to look up from our screens — before it’s too late.