brain rot

noun

ˈbrān-ˌrät 

variants or less commonly brainrot or brain-rot

slang

: a perceived decline in cognitive function attributed to consuming too much shallow or addictive online content

As a result of too much screen time, brain rot might be associated with symptoms like brain fog, fatigue, reduced attention span and an inability to self-regulate.

—Sarah Jacoby

People are assigning themselves homework to combat brain rot and improve their attention spans. There are no grades and no hard deadlines, just the satisfaction that comes with enriching your mind …

—Daniel Wine

also : shallow or addictive online content

Social media brain rot is hilarious …

—Anne (@aliasocfan), on X, formerly Twitter

Older internet vernacular involved quoting memes or making references to nerd culture, but brain rot offers strange sentence constructions and rhetorical tics with a broad range of possible applications …

—Kaitlyn Tiffany

Just like teenagers or young adults who can display physical and cognitive signs when they consume an overload of brain rot, so do young children.

—Lindsay Freiberger

Word History

First Known Use

2009, in the meaning defined above