The term “brainrot” was formulated to describe an excessive exposure to low-quality online social media content, which particularly targets young adolescents and early teenagers. Ever since the global COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant increase in the number of social media accounts, which has inevitably had a profound impact on the current generation, with almost everyone being exposed to it from a young age.
With each passing day, a growing number of children are falling victim to this phenomenon. Although social media can be used for good at times, younger children, ranging from the ages of five to 14, are over-consuming media known as “brainrot,” which, in recent studies, has been found to cause various developmental issues.
These issues range from emotional desensitization, cognitive overload and other psychological behaviors. Spending too much time on social media can also hinder proper development in the minds of young children and growing teens, along with damaging mental health.
“Doomscrolling” always starts out as something small, typically with a bored person, craving any media or entertainment to keep themselves busy for a minute or two by exploring recent news, comedy, and other genres. They open TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube, not knowing that something as small as pressing a button might suck them into a never-ending loop of scrolling.
The American Psychological Association reports that with every scroll, an individual shrinks their attention span more and more. In a study conducted by Dr. Gloria Mark, a psychologist at the University of California, Irvine, explained that spending too much time surrounded by technology or online media can result in a reduction of people’s attention spans, as they engage in short videos and skip to the next.
Skipping videos too quickly after watching the last one stunts the brain momentarily, making the brain feel confused as it tries to process more information rapidly. This might seem harmless at first, but constantly watching and scrolling to the next video quickly has proven to actually be a leading cause in shrinking attention spans and even results in increased anxiety.
As innocent young children curiously explore the internet, they can come across odd videos, AI-generated material, and strange videos that hold no entertainment or informational purposes at all. These videos can often even lead to mental degradation over time. Some of these bizarre videos include the popular “Italian Brainrot” memes that have recently taken the internet by storm, as they have become the face of brainrot worldwide and concern parents around the world, prompting them to ask, “Is this media even beneficial or appropriate for my children?”
At first, allowing children to access online videos might seem harmless because they seem entertaining. However, after spending weeks or months of unmonitored exposure to the internet, once parents or guardians even momentarily take away their devices, children begin to experience withdrawal symptoms.
Due to the effects of overconsumption of such brainrot, some symptoms that children and teens begin to experience include depression, anxiety, and distress. These issues can later ferment into something much worse and can even begin to impair memory, planning, and decision-making skills.
What first starts as a tedious tantrum can lead to a severe case of serious depression and anxiety if left unattended or untreated. Since both Generation Z and Generation Alpha were born into a digital world, they have both experienced cognitive decline over time.
An article by the National Institutes of Health elaborated on this and added that the TikTok “For You Page” algorithm overstimulates viewers, causing struggles with attention spans and the way children perceive life. Nowadays, many parents commonly report their children to be falling behind in their speaking and learning skills, resulting in schools having to slow down their academic pace.
Similar to schools slowing down their pace, Fox 2 Detroit, a news channel for Detroit, Michigan, reported that the official English alphabet song has been changed to eliminate children’s confusion on the “LMNOP” section. Viewers were devastated, claiming that the change was not necessary and that the recent generation has become so heavily influenced by social media and technology that they are unable to properly process information given to them.
To combat the defective effects of brainrot and social media, professionals are encouraging parents of young children to limit their children’s screen time as much as possible in order to prevent mental issues and such from developing later on.