Brainrot: An Epidemic Of Our Youth

Kai Cenat, Livvy Dunne, Baby Gronk, and The Rizzler: are we “cooked” as a society?

“Brainrot” is a term regarding the adverse psychological and cognitive effects of consuming low-quality internet content. This low-quality entertainment was initially seen on TikTok but has gradually become a favorite type of content on Instagram Reels. Indeed, there isn’t actual “rot” occurring, but the idea of people wasting their time mindlessly scrolling through social media while generating revenue for big tech companies is a waste of time. Thus, we are rotting our minds instead of attempting to be productive.

Over the past year, hearing brainrot phrases while walking in the halls hasn't been uncommon. Editor Will Cohen often says, “Let’s watch the Talk Tuah podcast.” Others can be heard saying, “What the sigma” and “I like my cheese drippy bruh,” a term popularized by Logan Paul, creator of Prime, and Mr. Beast, creator of Feastables.

Generation Alpha, born between 2010 and 2024, started mindlessly consuming an internet meme called Skibidi Toilet last year. Yes, the word Skibidi is almost as rot-inducing as the meme's concept: a man with his head coming out of a toilet. Then it was Baby Gronk, a child football player who became famous for “rizzing” up Livvy Dunne and comparing his football ability to that of Patriots legend Rob Gronkowski–“rizz” is the slang term for having charisma, and Livvy Dunne is a social media celebrity who became famous for her gymnastic ability. Essentially, Baby Gronk and Livvy Dunne collaborated for views. 

What do these collabs mean exactly? It’s simply money. Viewers of both fans mindlessly consume content from both parties. Each collaboration is like an advertisement for each celebrity. Viewers might see and follow a new person like Livvy Dunne, Baby Gronk, Logan Paul, or Mr. Beast. By gaining these new followers and views, each creator earns profits and pumps out more content so kids stay entertained. Therefore, there is a cycle between each collaboration and the subsequent new followers and views from which all the creators profit.

An internet meme has roughly a 6-week lifespan, but how has brainrot persisted for over a year since its inception? The answer is new creators. Today, the Costco Guys initiated a new era of brainrot. The Costco Guys are a father and son duo famous for their TikTok video of a father, Big AJ, and son, Big Justice, and their love for Costco’s double chunk chocolate cookies and chicken bakes. They have generated millions of views of these rot-inducing videos, enabling them to travel to many college campuses and spread their influence. Most recently, they created a song called “We Bring The Boom,” where they introduced characters like The Rizzler, a 7-year-old kid who became famous for his “rizz-face.” Think handsome Squidward from that SpongeBob episode, and that's The Rizzler. The creation of all these new characters and new content continues to fuel brainrot. Brainrot was once a singular meme. Now, it’s a category that has spread like an infection around the internet.

Are we “cooked” as a society? Probably not. Massive memes like brainrot existed in many prior years under different pseudonyms. Many of my senior friends and those now in college can remember the days of MLG memes—a massive collection of flashing colored lights popularized by the video game Call of Duty. MLG memes peaked around 2013 but were still prevalent up until late 2017. Today, they are nearly nonexistent. The dying of these memes comes after the viewers deem them not as entertaining as they once were, prompting them to move on to the following best form of entertainment. I predict that we are in the final stages of the brainrot epidemic. Generation Alpha is slowly starting not to be as entertained as they once were with brainrot, which will hopefully be the end to the worst era of the internet.

Jack Francini