In today’s society, anyone can get their phone out and scroll. Suddenly, their mind is in another world that allows them to be distracted from responsibilities, life or from being bored, creating a mechanism to turn off their brain.
The National Institute of Health showed that students were prone to use their phones when they reached a level of ”boredom, avoidance of uncomfortable situations and the need for entertainment.”
A large factor in this is that using a phone has become today’s standard. The majority of students have a smart phone, because phones are the basis of communication, safety and lifestyle for any teenager. Phones are not going away and are bound to be a large part of teenagers’ lives.
During this process, teens have become increasingly reliant on the internet. It is this content that builds teenage culture. However, now it’s no longer average pop culture references that bring teenagers together, but rather a new form of references known as brainrot. The main difference is that it is not always creatively made by humans but by AI, and is spread by algorithms made from recycled content to all teenagers.
Connections will emerge in a world where most teenagers are exposed to the same jokes. Because of this, making a joke relating to brainrot in class is likely to make students laugh together and start commenting on the joke. This demonstrates that for some, brainrot is not completely negative since it can also be interpreted as harmless and lighthearted.
With that being said, brainrot can have negative impacts that outweigh the positives. If students only makes jokes about the same content, teenagers may lose the ability to make jokes and be humorous on their own. If a teenager doesn’t have social media, they may feel left out of the joke amongst their peers.
The most dangerous outcomes are those that affect students’ critical thinking abilities and their focus. This can impact teens’ lives as students, and may later affect their education. A study by the NIH found that this decline could later influence a student’s ability to stay on top of their assignments or a decrease their cognitive thinking, resulting in lower grades. Ultimately, the negative effects of brainrot may outweigh the positives.
Even so, teenagers are constantly searching for the next best thing online. In six or seven years, brainrot may be left in the past.
Despite what may come, the biggest take away is that teenagers don’t constantly need to be consumed by an online world to just be a teenager. Being a teen means making mistakes; people learn who they are and they take their first steps into the future.
Students don’t always need to scroll to separate themselves from their responsibilities; sometimes, they need to talk to others or spend time doing things that relax them. They shouldn’t need to rely on brainrot to make jokes, instead they should laugh about the things that make living life as a teenager so special.
