What is "Brain rot"

[TheBruiser]

Alright folks,

Bit of a weird one, but I'm genuinely starting to think my kids have lost the run of themselves. I've a 9-year-old and a 13-year-old, and lately they've been coming out with absolute nonsense every time they open their mouths. When I ask what they're on about, they just say "ah Dad you've got brainrot."



Apparently that means you've spent too long on TikTok or YouTube and your brain's melted. To be fair, judging by the stuff they watch, I'm starting to believe it.



Here's a few examples of what I've heard round the house recently:

"Skibidi Ohio Rizz Gyatt" – no clue what that's supposed to mean. They were watching a video with a toilet that talks? Looked like pure nightmare fuel.

"Fanum tax" – my lad said this after lifting a chip off my plate. Nearly got a slap.

"You're not real, you're an NPC." – apparently I'm not a real person because I asked them to tidy their room.

"Sigma grindset" – I thought this was motivational stuff about working hard. Turns out it's a meme about lads staring blankly into the distance.

"Skibidi Toilet " – they're genuinely invested in this. There's lore. It's like Game of Thrones for people with attention spans of a goldfish.

"67" - they keep saying this does anyone know what it means?

I'm not trying to be one of those "back in my day" types, but I genuinely don't know if this is just harmless craic or if their brains are turning to mush.

Anyone else's weans the same? Can someone translate this nonsense for a da who still thinks "vibe check" means asking if someone's alright?



Cheers

[PadraicHenryPearse]

I've a five year old and get similar stuff. YouTube is poison and I've only myself to blame for letting him watch it but he learns about it fromm friends in school/creche.

brainrot is originally an Italian thing I think, it's basically characters that have stupid names that rhyme and look like a combo of  crocodile wearing sneakers, that has wings like a plane, for example or a cup of coffee.

some of the other stuff you typed I think is just made up slang that spread via tiktok, an urban dictionary will help!!!

I hate the word 'actually' and getting sick of getting called Bro (I did like that I was a bro for a while ) and I hear my nieces who and 9 and 7 used these words repeatly too.

[Munchie]

Make memories that will dilute that shite, there is 800 odd weekends until they are 16 and they you have no chance, go to the zoo the park, arrange days out, get them talking about adventures where they take part, sign them up for everything, singing, dancing, football, hurling, camogie, playing a musical instrument - something will stick if they are into video games play it with them and let them laugh at how shite you are. My youngest is 15 oldest two started at the ipod, granted it wasn't as mental as it is now, young niece is all into youtube but the more I see young kids the more it amazes me how they direct the proceedings, youtube etc I get are tripe but there needs to be rules.

[LC]

I've come across the NPC term, Non Playing Character.

School children basically applying this label to persons they deem completely irrelevant within their class / year group.  A very hurtful lable I would imagine to people who would have little confidence within themselves to start with.

[tiempo]

As i say to my young one, you tube is turning your brain to mush, but I'm guilty of allowing it, and I'm also borderline addicted to various content that i find interesting when driving or doing the dishes or whatever, sometimes I have to unplug from tech as I find the brain asking for a break from it all

The same time spent reading a book would be x10 better for you i feel

Make no mistake its becoming a form of mind control, wall to wall clickbait stupefies you, I've completely unplugged from the situation in the middle east, 10-15 years ago i'd have been disgusted by it all, now i'm just ambivalent

[Grace Murphy]

I've come across the NPC term, Non Playing Character.

School children basically applying this label to persons they deem completely irrelevant within their class / year group.  A very hurtful lable I would imagine to people who would have little confidence within themselves to start with.

Ahh i see glad then i haven't heard them say it to anyone else but me on a handful of occasions ill know to stop it the next time cheers.

If they're sayign it to you they are saying it to others Mucker

[lurganblue]

6 7 is the big one at the minute.  Tiktok again.  Something to do with someone shouting it at basketball, or someone's height... or some other nonsense.

[Mourne Red]

6 7 means nothing, was used in a song by Skrilla about a basketball player but literally no meaning to it when kids say it.

It's a bit like our generation laughing at 69. Except it you know had the sec position meaning that got the class laughing.

GYATT - God Your Ass Thick.

Sigma Grindset - Lone Wolf and rules you follow etc

Skibidi toilet I think is to do with some stupid YouTube videos

[SaffronSports]

Basically sounds like one of my training sessions

[Ulrich]

I get the same border bull. I feel like a right old timer not having a clue what my 2 youngsters jabbering about. 2 things I do know. I'm the butt of the joke half the time and them knowing it annoys me encourages them.
Bro; bra; running round the house chanting pure and utter dung.
What a time to be a parent

[RedHand88]

Have a 4 year old. Youtube is barred. Blippi smashing a car with a sledgehammer and calling it children's entertainment was enough.
 Plenty of stuff on Disney+, Netflix etc without putting on unregulated garbage made in somebody's kitchen.
Thankfully he's not really into the TV at all and would easily go a day without a minute of screen time. More interested in physical toys, football etc. Have to make an effort to engage with them when they're at that.

[imtommygunn]

We've a 6 year old and youtube is barred though the bro talk is definitely coming in. There is some shite on tv these days for them.

[gallsman]

As usual, it's not the platform, it's the lack of controls or rules put in place by parents. Imagine letting a child not yet in their teens near tiktok FFS.

YouTube is a phenomenal resource and is full of incredible content that can teach kids all sorts of behaviours and morals. Bluey for one is superb. The problem is when you let the child have free rein and they are able to scroll and tap as they please.

Our 5 year old gets some YouTube (on the TV) and some cbeebies maybe 3 or 4 times a week. Some of her peers have a phone jabbed in front of them the moment they're picked up from school.

[Substandard]

Sometimes in school it's like another language,  which is fine, it's their generation,  let them off, etc, but then when you see how fragmented and disordered their thinking,  planning, writing skills and processing is, you would wonder.  I should say for some, not all, but it is getting more noticeable.
I'm banking on the every generation goes through this concept- my auld lad reckoned the world was f***ed the time he saw a Prodigy video, and that that was music: the f***ing state of them.  He used to reckon the Simpsons caused brainrot, or his interpretation of it. And in school, too much violence on tv was going to turn all teens into maniacal psychopaths and serial killers.
Just counter them with Beavis and Butthead- call them buttmunch and fartknocker in retaliation!!

[Milltown Row2]

My kids had no interaction with that stuff, no smart phones till secondary school and no phones in bedrooms after 7 pm, just a generation above I suppose but they'll have made up plenty of viewing YouTube.