Do phrases like “Skibidi” and “Sigma” sound familiar? Along with many more, these phrases are part of a generational fad called Brain Rot.
Brain Rot is a phrase used to describe short form videos that have no particular meaning and are dumb jokes mainly used within Gen Z or Gen Alpha. Brain Rot is most popular on TikTok where it is seen as short videos and is commonly associated with text to speech snippets with Subway Surfers playing below it or “Family Guy” clips as a way to give viewers multiple stimuli and distractions as they listen.
Another commonly seen version of Brain Rot are videos with people saying or doing things that make no sense but are funny to most of their viewers, saying words like “sigma” and “gyat.” The phrase gained even more traction on the internet in 2020 especially on Discord where it was used to describe low-quality or nonsensical online content made especially for humorous purposes.
The term was even the 2024 Oxford University Word of the Year. The official Oxford Dictionary description for it is “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.”
Brain Rot first became a slang term in 2007 when it became popular to describe a fixation with a thing or character, and since has become almost synonymous with Gen Z and Gen Alpha’s slang. Researchers are looking into whether or not Brain Rot could be bad for people.
The Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey published a study Feb. 20 led by Thomas Wilson.
“Some experts think Brain Rot is real, describing it as a combination of mental fogginess, lethargy and reduced attention span brought on by too much screen time,” Wilson said. “The resulting cognitive decline, they say, includes difficulty solving problems, making decisions and remembering things.”
Angel Galicia Mendoza, An undergraduate student at Columbia University studying philosophy and psychology says otherwise in her article in Education Week titled “No, ‘Brain Rot’ Isn’t Ruining My Generation.” She says that Gen Z and Gen Alpha’s view Brain Rot as “playful and absurd” and not a “serious condition plaguing the youth.”
“Brain Rot is a key part of how my generation—Generation Z—and Generation Alpha express ourselves” Mendoza says. “‘Brain Rot’ is itself a new word for a relatively common phenomenon: a kind of hyperconsumable, often absurd or chaotic internet content that dominates social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and X.”
Due to Brain Rot being taken as a joke, some adults don’t mind and play it off as kids being kids, noting that kids often seem strange to adults. Some parents believe that kids will grow out of it.
“To adults outside those online spaces, it can feel almost nonsensical, even alarming,” Mendoza says. “But for younger generations, this absurdity reflects their reality: a world full of constant stimulation, overwhelming challenges, and fleeting trends.”
Some may argue that a similar thing has been seen in older generations as slang developed and adults got confused and concerned, but others have said Brain Rot has taken it to a whole new level.
