The choice of the word of the year by the philologists of the Oxford British Dictionary It is a classic. It is a semantic joke that helps us understand the world. In December last year, the term announced was Brain Rot, which can be translated as “brain rot.” Thus, in the first sense: “alleged deterioration of the mental or intellectual state of a person, especially as a result of excessive consumption of material (in particular, online content) considered trivial or little stimulating.”
During the first months of 2025 there has been a wave of videos, images and memes that arise from nowhere and become a phenomenon. They include from express ridiculous to offenses to groups of whole people, but pass by. As if everything was allowed and, above all, well. Without any damage. None of that seems to be something as harmful as the fake news created, especially for ideological reasons.
However, there is an obvious novelty, beyond the tireless phenomenon of each day, every minute: recent research shows that stupidity is beginning to cause true mental problems in those who do not take the view of the screen.
A study published in the magazine The Journal of the American Medical Association (Jama, of the United States) identified suicidal trends among young people from 9 to 14 years old who reported electronic addiction and enormous difficulty leaving portable devices. Teenagers, in particular, were between two and three times more likely to house suicidal or self -collocation thoughts, compared to those who demonstrate are disconnected. More than 4,000 boys and adolescents from the country of North America were interviewed.
“This is the first study that identifies addictive use as the root of problems, and not the time in front of the screen itself,” he says Yunyu Xiaomain author of the study and attached teacher of Psychiatry and Population Health Sciences in the Weill Cornell Medical College of the United States.
“In this cohort study of 4,285 American adolescents, 31.3 % presented a growing addictive use of social networks and 24.6 % of mobile phones over 4 years. A high or growing addictive use was associated with a higher risk of behaviors or suicidal ideation, compared to a low addictive use. Young people with a maximum or growing use of social networks or video networks More internalizing or outsourcing symptoms, “explains the Paper.
All types of addiction can be more difficult to control during childhood, before the prefrontal cortex, which acts as a brake on impulsivity, develops completely. In addition, short and superficial videos can cause a type of “neuroplastic atrophy”, in which the brain gets used to easy stimuli and loses the ability to manage more complex tasks.
“With constant exposure to this type of content, the brain stops accessing areas that require more cognitive effort,” he says Cristiano Nabuco, Psychologist specialized in technology addictions. “The idea enters, but does not have an impact. It is not rooted, it does not connect with anything,” he explains.
Before pointing only to younger generations, it is also worth highlighting the damage caused by the abusive use of Internet resources, especially those of artificial intelligence (AI), among the elderly. It is not always about nonsense, with sharks, crocodiles and dancers, but it opens a bottomless well where everything goes.
A survey of Mit Media Lab He has been causing a stir in the last two weeks (and has become a meme, of course) according to which Chatgpt harms critical thinking. The study divided 54 participants between 18 and 39, in the Boston area, United States, in three groups. They were asked to write tests using the AI robot, Google search engine and, finally, nothing, based only on their own thought.
Consequences of AI. The researchers found that the chatgpt group’s brain activity was the most shy and lazy, depending on copying and hitting. This survey echos another solid research conducted by the University of Science and Technology of Trondheim in Norway. The objective was to compare the electric brain activity of university students during calligraphy and typing exercises. Those who wrote by hand presented higher levels of neuronal activation.
There is still much to investigate to establish direct inferences, a cause and effect relationship, between electronics addiction and brain transformations. It is reckless to assume, without the adequate findings and evidence, which has already reached the new generation and point, as if the silicon revolution had definitely changed the course of humanity. Not yet. However, there are behavioral aspects that should not be overlooked.
According to experts, the continuous consumption of short films deteriorates long -term memory. “The brain begins to prioritize only the now, the immediate stimulus, and stops organizing more complex ideas,” says Nabuco. It is as if the thought began to function in increasingly small windows, unable to maintain a reasoning line for more than a few seconds.
Instead of consolidating the information, the gray matter is customary to rule it as fast as it receives, in an incessant flow of fragmented stimuli that arrive, impact and dissolve.
The consequence is the infantilization of thought. It is as if we were going back in our capacity for analysis and abstraction. In practice, this implies the difficulty of dealing with long texts, informative videos, complex discussions and even sustained conversations that require sequential reasoning. The content must be digested, immediately, loaded with emotion or humor; Any nuance that requires a pause or a more elaborate interpretation runs the risk of being ignored.
All this has been perfected by the owners of the mechanism, with obvious economic interests. There are already legal demands in the United States and Europe against large companies, accused of generating intentionally addiction.
In 2021, a meta -employed, Frances Haugen, denounced the company of Mark Zuckerberg for working with tools designed to create addiction and increase consumption. At the end of 2023, prosecutors of 42 US states filed demands against their own Goal, Tiktok, Google and Snapchat for allegedly inducing children and adolescents to follow the Reels. The accusations: The algorithms of the platforms were deliberately designed to exploit brain vulnerabilities and generate addiction.
To do? The debate is gaining institutional force gradually. In Brazil, a bill that is currently in process in Congress, in parallel with the recent judgment of the Supreme Federal Court, proposes to hold digital platforms for the damage caused to minors. The proposal includes norms for the transparency of algorithms, the prohibition of advertising aimed at young people and the creation of more accessible denunciation mechanisms.
In other countries, more forceful measures are already being implemented. The Netherlands, for example, has officially recommended that children under 15 do not use Tiktok or Instagram, recognizing the harmful effects of these platforms.
In Australia, the total prohibition of cell phones in public schools has become national policy and, according to the Ministry of Education, it is already showing positive results in academic performance indicators, concentration in the classroom and psychological well -being of students.
The legislation determines that the devices must be kept out during classes, recreations and breaks, except in authorized pedagogical situations or for reasons of accessibility, health and safety. Restriction is expected to contribute to a healthier school environment, with less distractions and greater dedication to learning.
The problem of addiction to addictive content that abounds in social networks is no longer an individual problem, but one of public health. And, like all public health problems, it needs regulation. And if there is tiredness of so much concern, nobody will die if the “Trallero Tralala” of the Bocón Shark is running; But it’s fast, because there is life out there.
Image gallery
