The Brain Rot Epidemic

Well, it’s official: Our brains are being fried by short-form videos (SFVs). Defined as “video content lasting a few seconds to a few minutes,” SFVs rack up billions of views across TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts every day. While SFVs are entertaining in the moment, new research shows they may significantly harm viewers’ cognitive functioning.

Bad News: Brain Rot

Zombified social media users are increasingly said to be suffering from “brain rot,” which refers to the cognitive decline developed from viewing addictive, low-quality SFVs. Those videos are sometimes classified as “slop” or “brain rot,” as well.

Researchers at Griffith University examined data from 98,299 participants across 71 studies to determine how SFVs impact cognitive function and mental health. The group’s findings paint a troubling, albeit unsurprising, picture.

Heavier SFV use is reliably associated with worse cognition, the researchers found, especially attention span and inhibitory control. Basically, the more users view SFVs, the more difficult it is for them to focus and deal with distractions, leading to brain rot.

In both youth and adults, higher levels of SFV use are also linked to heightened stress and anxiety. The consequences weren’t confined to any individual platform, either: TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and others produced similar results. Notably, the APA found no strong link between viewing SFVs and issues related to body image or self-esteem.

Is Society in Trouble?

After “brain rot” was named Oxford Word of the Year 2024, Casper Grathwohl, President of Oxford Languages, made an interesting observation, highlighting the terms’ adoption by Gen Z and Gen Alpha, which are both “largely responsible for the use and creation of the digital content the term refers to.”

“These communities have amplified the expression through social media channels, the very place said to cause ‘brain rot’. It demonstrates a somewhat cheeky self-awareness in the younger generations about the harmful impact of social media that they’ve inherited,” he added.

Platforms have prioritized video content in recent years because it has become a powerful tool for engagement. As digital strategist Neil Patel notes, “Videos allow you to evoke emotions and increase the likelihood that your audience will remember your message.”

While video content might be good at capturing attention, the broader implications of video-driven “brain rot” go far beyond personal well-being. Declining attention spans and inhibitory control hurt learning, productivity, decision-making, and emotional regulation, which ultimately impact society itself.

A column in National Review by Michael Brendan Dougherty warned that American culture as we know it is dying, and a new one is being formed by a “giant buzzing colonies of internet influencers.”

“Now the last inherited habits of civilization are giving way to the onset of paranoia, distrust, and desperation for answers. Most things you thought were solid in our civilization have been vaporized and evacuated. The second you lean on these structures, they fall apart,” Dougherty wrote.

“If we’re going to conserve anything through this period, it’s going to require heroic work and institution-building. Which will require trust, and trust implies some agreement on the deep values,” he continued. “But how can that be achieved when most thoughts are flattened into 15-second video shorts on TikTok and Instagram Stories? God help us.”

1. “Brain rot” refers to the cognitive decline developed from viewing addictive, low-quality videos.
2. Increased views of short-form videos (SFV) are associated with higher stress and anxiety levels, as well as attention span issues.
3. Platforms prioritize video content because it is a highly effective tool for increasing engagement.