Theoretically, a social media feed should heighten awareness and memory, and dilate time, because it selects for content that’s exciting, outrageous, and scary. And yet we seldom remember such content. The reason for this discrepancy is simple: when every post is alarming, your brain quickly becomes desensitised, and starts to interpret alarming... See more

Short-form content (TikTok reels, rapid-fire stories) is engineered to give you frequent novelty + high emotional spikes . That combination trains your brain to expect constant stimulation and micro-rewards. Over time it can make it harder to sustain attention, feel bored, or tolerate slower emotional states.

Dank memes, deep-fried memes, shitposting, feralposting, goblin mode, doomscrolling, or whatever insinuates seemingly senseless online content consumption were all essentially describing brainrot. The term, however, is iconic because it marks a significant turning point. It aptly describes the beginning of our biological coalescence with the... See more