‘It speaks to me in brain rot’: Theorising ‘brain rot’ as a genre of participation among teenagers (journals.sagepub.com)

submitted 1 month ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] callouscomic@lemmy.zip 18 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Are teenagers animals we don't understand to be studied?

Also are they a monolith?

What is this garbage?

‘brain rot’ is conceptualised as a collection of related practices that (1) are childish or unserious, (2) provide no cognitive or developmental benefit, and (3) are deliberately non-productive. In this way, it can be understood as a decompression-driven genre of participation whereby young people actively resist the pressures of productivity and self-optimisation.

This paper is brain rot.

[-] theneverfox@pawb.social 17 points 1 month ago

Are teenagers animals we don't understand to be studied?

Genuinely, yes. They're the stage where humans stretch boundaries and react to the society they've been raised in

Teenagers want autonomy and support, but beyond that? To understand them you have to study constantly emerging culture, constantly changing language, endless subcultures and remixes

[-] Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 month ago

As far as I can tell, brain rot encourages no thoughts, head empty enjoyment. It expects and promotes the lowest common denominator thoughts, like a thought stopping cliche but for entertainment instead of propaganda.

There's plenty of mature brain rot and it's only non-productive in the same way most media is. I can see calling it decompression-driven, but more as a form of escapist relaxation, like coloring books or knitting. It's main focus is mininal mental effort, hence the name.

TL;DR: Ye, paper is garbo.