brain rot

• brain-rot, brainrot

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brain rot (uncountable)

1. (slang, derogatory) The degradation of mental faculties, intelligence, common sense, or moral character.
   • 1854, Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1897 printing), page 501:

     While England endeavors to cure the potato-rot, will not any endeavor to cure the brain-rot, which prevails so much more widely and fatally?

   • 2016 April, Tom Royer, “Rated M for Millennials”, in Mankato Magazine, published 2017, page 25:

     And then our parents decided that comics books were to blame for their children's brain rot, tossing most of these halftone gems in the garbage.

   • 2020 January, Joanna Ellner, “Diary Of A Mum: Part 6”, in Baby, published 2019, page 61:

     I carried with me a vague awareness of the political state of the world. I had actual views on things. I made mid-conversation gags that mostly paid off. And yet, four months into babyland and I have reached brain rot.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:brain rot.
2. (slang, derogatory) Media deemed to hold little artistic value and/or negatively impact those who consume it.
   • 1978, Lionel Menuhin Rolfe, The Menuhins: A Family Odyssey, page 47:

     […] I remember that I had to stay home and receive a stern lecture on the evils of Tinseltown brainrot.

   • 2003, Tom Cox, Educating Peter, page 111:

     It could be a great album, like Big Star’s Radio City, or it could be one composed entirely of what I deemed to be drab, scum-sucking brainrot, like The Stereophonics’ Performance And Cocktails.

   • 2011, John Vannisselroy, "Reality bites: we need less English Premier League", TNT Magazine, 15 August 2011 - 21 August 2011, page 52:

     So this winter, I'll chill on the couch watching The Only Way Is Essex or some similar brainrot instead, happy it'll be over in a hour

   • 2023, Nunzio Amon, “The Future of Gen Alpha”, in Medium:

     We need to hold out hope and wish for the best for Gen Alpha as they are truly capable. But with the polarization of the current times and brainrot they are encountering online, it’s hard.

   • 2024 February 8, Shivé Prema, “What is 'brain rot'? Do you have it?”, in SBS News:

     Implicit in the idea of brain rot is the fear that those who spend too much time on screens will become less intelligent, such as 'iPad Kids', Gen Z and Gen Alpha children raised in the digital age.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:brain rot.
3. (fandom slang, uncountable) The state of being obsessed with a particular work of media, particularly to an extent considered to be embarrassing.
   • 2024 July 8, LeiaThompson3, Twitter‎:

     Jojo brain rot is real because why have I just spent the last 10 minutes thinking who'd be better at parallel parking-

   • 2024 July 19, @TFMSW, Twitter‎:

     I said they both can't act, I still liked the prequels and the acolyte, but it could just be the star wars brain rot that got me lol