“Brainrot” and the Spread of Media Ethics

(This essay or article is written differently from my others, focusing more on entertainment value and having a casual or sensationalized demeanor. It still contains good information though. In my opinion. )

Brainrot is a term created to describe contemporary media content that is of low standard and quality, specifically regarding moral and ethical concerns. As the word literally implies, “brainrot” content will rot your brain due to how poor it is.

Generally, in the past, ethical concerns over media would generally be delegated to politicians, concerned mothers, and scholars. The term “brainrot” is somewhat unique in that it has reached many more people and enabled them to use language to express concerns with people’s media consumption.

Currently occurring is a shift in ethical concerns regarding modern media (where I will arbitrarily say that “modern media” begins at consumer computers—desktops in the house, etc): from the original “violent video games and movies make children violent” to “everyone understands that social media has had long lasting negative effects on the majority of users, but I can’t stop using it”. Where adolescents in the past would be defending their hours on youtube by saying “Well, actually, watching someone else playing video games can be educational”, they are now better understanding the damage that an unkempt “media diet” can hold. And part of this is from argumentative criticism in their part of the online world. “Skibidi Toilet is brainrot. Real Ohio Rizzers watch the youtuber Northernlion play videogames.”

Media ethics were predisposed to older people in general, as when one is young, they tend not to care as much about poor-health-causing activities, like eating junk food, drinking energy drinks every day (oops! Thats me.), or too much time spent on the internet. However, when everyone gets a smartphone starting from the age of three, and (regarding highschool students)

“(In 2021) more than 4 in 10 (42%) students felt persistently sad or hopeless and nearly one-third (29%) experienced poor mental health. More than 1 in 5 (22%) students seriously considered attempting suicide and 1 in 10 (10%) attempted suicide” (CDC.gov)

People are quick to seek an understanding. And then the understanding is that “devices are bad” but “Noooooo! I need my device!” so the understanding is glossed over.

Yes, from my experience and understanding, most(…ok, maybe just half of the smart ones) teens know that their smartphone habits and usage are affecting them negatively, and most don’t care, or are too far in to stop now. Terms like “social media addiction” have been coined to try and explain obsessive behavior regarding device and internet usage.

Additionally, you really need some sort of smart device for modern life—school, social security forms, professional communication—theres a reason that shelters will give smartphones to the economically disadvantaged. They (any sort of Computer with modern internet capabilities) really are required for modern life.

Unless you pull a Ralph Waldo Emerson and move into the wilderness with minimal technology and contact, intending to avoid any form of “society”. But alas, even I succumb to the tempting debauchery of technology, as I have two idle incremental games open in the background right now.

I’ve mostly covered why “brainrot” as a term rose—younger generations in need of more fitting language that helps them express their basic concerns regarding media—but I haven’t covered what exactly it is applied to or given examples. So here’s a few trends that I’ve seen called brainrot and some trends or examples that I think fall in the category:

NPC TikTok: NPC meaning “Non playable character”, inspired from games where minor characters like shopkeepers serve no purpose other than to sell or buy—they don’t have a personality or “do” anything other than serve the player. People give real money or particular awards (that cost real money) to live streamers on TikTok. i.e. it costs $1 to send the “ice cream” award to a TikTok streamer, they get a part of the revenue, see the “(username) sent an icecream!” and then they react by using a predetermined phrase. Like holding their hand out and licking an imaginary ice cream cone then saying “Mmm! Ice cream, so good!”. Yep. People get paid a lot of money for this. I should mention that this came to rise and fall before the popularity of the term brainrot, but I believe it embodies it very well, especially since it requires continuous participation of multiple real people—as opposed to recorded content.

Skibidi Toilet: Despite the nonsensical nature of this Youtube series gone viral, I don’t think it is that bad. The particular reason it is touted as brainrot is more for its affects on children. We see that every time something becomes a bit “too” popular in the realm of children, it has negative effects—or rather, it concerns others that children are so obsessed with online media. When the game Fortnite was popular, there were videos of elementary school children doing Fortnite dances (dance moves popularized from characters in the game performing them) and screaming “We like Fortnite! We like Fortnite!”. Same thing with Skibidi Toilet, where some people call the intense obsession with it “Skibidi Toilet Syndrome” which comes from:

“Parents have documented their kids becoming ‘obsessed’ with Skibidi Toilet, upset or angry after being restricted or banned from watching it, or sitting in baskets or boxes and acting like the Skibidi toilets, which seems more cute than terrifying but what do I know.”

So it is fair to say that Skibidi Toilet isn’t really the issue but rather something that enables the issue. There has also been other trends with horror or rather scary media that has been obsessed over by children, which is interesting to think of: why do children gravitate towards this scary and weird media? I’m know the answer is out there but I don’t want to go down the child psychology rabbit hole.

TikTok (in general): Many times a specific term gets picked up through the popularity of a specific meme or clip, and it evolves to the point where it loses all meaning and becomes a buzzword. Similar to the way saying “penis” will elicit laughs without context. So, one might say “Skibidi Gyatt Rizz Ohio”. It is generally nonsensical; it elicits laughs from children for being a slew of buzzwords that relate to the media they like, or it is used by older people to make fun of the situation that is children having an unhealthy relationship with media, as well as making fun of the slang they use. (Q: How are you? A: I’m feeling pretty skibidi). It also emphasizes the absurdity of contemporary media in general. Now, to “decode” Skibidi Gyatt Rizz Ohio…

Skibidi: from Skibidi toilet, used here as an adjective (Thats so skibidi!) that is generally filler; it is less meaningful than the other language in the sentence as it has a bit of a weaker origin. You’ll see.

Gyatt: First used as alternative language that helped disguise lechery, “look at that gyatt” would be similar to “Gee whiz! Look at the attractive back end on that person!” Obviously, media–especially TikTok–has ties to and incentivizes sexuality and sexual behavior. Children then adopt the word knowing it has strong meaning, but due to their lack of knowledge/development, lose the memo that it has sexual ties. Thus it is reduced to another meaningless buzz word.

Rizz: Another term tied to sexuality, but less lecherous, and actually can be used in a sentence by itself. Rizz is synonomous with “game” in terms of flirting or picking up… other consensual adults. You have a lot of rizz, you have a lot of… skill in flirting or attracting others. If you “rizz” someone “up”, you employ romance tactics to attempt to attract them, which usually involves compliments. But in this sentence it means nothing.

Ohio: Like the U.S. State, people (TikTok’ers, content creators) started using Ohio negatively: there is nothing to do in Ohio, it sucks living there, no one wants to be there. Probably not true, but you can imagine that the sensationalist nature of popularity and online life leans more towards big city living in places like California. Again, used mostly nonsensically as a buzz word now.

Oh, my poor brain! I need Faulkner prose asap! And to think I just wrote a letter to the editor of an article in The Atlantic regarding an article on college students being unable to read books. Writing can be tough, and it forces the writer to be vulnerable. I always doubt my writing, especially when its around 1500 words about (ok, not entirely about) Skibidi Gyatt Rizz Ohio.