Micropost #115: Articles about "brain rot"

Brain rot: Mindless digital content; the fixation on it and harmful mental effects of it.

- Merriam-Webster

Been seeing a lot written and spoken about regarding one of the current scurges of the era, "brain rot." This doesn't seem to be a new phenomenon - Something Awful, Newgrounds, 4chan anyone? - it seems to be rising in concern from people lately. Case in point being a recent New Yorker article by Kyle Chayka covering the topic through people obsessing over Labubu dolls, which I honestly never heard of until I went to New York last month (how is this different from the whole Beanie Babies thing again?).

Image from Gaspar Uhas (Unsplash)

It's a solid read and worth giving it the time, plus he pointed readers to other insightful articles on the topic which I've included here too. Since I find cultural going-ons incredibly fascinating, I've also found some other articles and links of note (no videos - I'm not jumping into that rabbithole right now) for further investigation.

Reminder: I'm currently on my last of the 2025 Summer Sabbaticals and if anything is "off" about this posts, I'll fix it when I come back. - AB