‘Brain rot’: When memes affect our intellectual capacities

The term ‘brain rot’ has been coined to describe a mental effect of heavy social media consumption. — AFP Relaxnews

If your vocabulary and conversational topics are dominated by Internet references, you may be suffering from “brain rot”. This unglamorous term has been coined to describe a host of specific negative effects on our mental state linked to heavy social media use.

The term “brain rot” is used to describe a phenomenon linked to a tendency to overly rely on, absorb and mention information found on the web, to the point of constantly referencing it in real-life conversations. As a result of being inundated with millions of pieces of information, users are less inclined to solve problems or come up with creative ideas on their own, thus essentially allowing their “brain to rot”.