Brain rot is taking over social media, so much that the next generation of kids has created a whole new language from it that parents and adults have no clue about.
As the Oxford Word of the Year for 2024, "brain rot" is defined as "the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration”.
Clearly, this type of content is already impacting the impressionable youngsters - Gen Alpha (those born between 2010 and 2025), more specifically - as people have been posting videos sharing their confusion and concern about kids
For example, creator @00zinq posted a video of a group of toddlers chanting gibberish, declared "This generation is acc [actually] finished."
"What do you mean they just started chanting out of the blue," he added in the video caption that now has 3 million views.
@00zinq Wdym they js started chanting ts out of the blue 💔😭 #brainrot #funny #somalitiktok
This concern was shared in the comments section, too.
One person said, "This is going to be their nostalgia."
"Sounding like a ritual," a second person wrote.
A third added, "My siblings do this, and it p***** me off so much."
A fourth person commented, "This generation is cooked."
"What happened to kids learning ABCs?" another person asked.
In a similar video, @lb_mango05 shared a video of a young boy singing along to a track called "Brainrot Song" which now has 812,000 viewers.
@lb_mango05 Word by word😭😭🙆🏾#fype #pubglover #mangos @×͜×PUULجIMA×͜🕷🇸🇴
Viewers in the comments seemed to realise that their younger siblings have also been singing this song.
"And they thought Gen Z was bad," one person said.
A second person posted, "This is an actual thing? 😭😭 Here I thought my siblings made it up."
"I thought it was just my brothers that was broken," a third person added.
A fourth person commented, "Bro there were like 5 small children on a swing swinging and singing this."
It can be hard to keep up with the latest lingo youngsters are saying, that's why teacher and creator @mr_lindsay_sped has a weekly series on the new words kids in his class are using.
For September 12, he learned what they are saying - and the number one expression this week is "Sandy/Get sandy", which apparently comes from a trend where people are "getting sandy or sending it and pretending to shotgun different items" with things like their homework, a sub sandwich, and Stanley cups, etc.
@mr_lindsay_sped A little late! But here is your update! #getsendy #67 #genalpha #genalohaslang #teachersoftiktok
Meanwhile, creator @meowrcie shared a video of herself entertaining her baby with "analog brainrot" because screentime isn't good for babies after all, but they're also not getting FOMO either.
@meowrcie they can't all be hits... #analogbrainrot #screenfree #baby #brainrot #gadagedigadago #cottoneyejoe
Elsewhere from Indy100, What is TikTok 'brain rot?' Chronically online term explained, and 'Parents reading brain rot words' TikTok trend explained.
How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel
Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter
Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.