The ‘brain rot’, or how “refs” “rot” your brain

“Brain rot” is a term used to describe a phenomenon related to overreliance on information found on the Internet to the point of constantly quoting it in real-life conversations. By being bombarded with millions of pieces of information, the user would no longer think for himself, thus leaving his “brain to rot”.

On the internet, they are called “refs”. Popularized in particular thanks to the old Vine platform, it is on TikTok that “refs” are now all the rage. These references to sentences, or simply oral and facial expressions, are often reused by Internet users in their everyday lives to react to situations. And by staying connected on social networks for hours, some users no longer swear by these references, even in real life.

This trend, while amusing, is also worrying and indicative of a decline in users according to Dr Neil Jeyasingam, researcher at the Sydney Institute of Psychiatry and the UK Institute of Psychiatry: “The idea of ​​absorbing large amounts of irrelevant and poor quality information is thought to be associated with deterioration in functioning and loss of intelligence, hence the term “brain rot“, he explains to SBS News. “When you are repeatedly exposed to media in a particular area, in a particular vein, or in a particular situation, you tend to associate other things with it“, he adds. By constantly using online references in their conversations, users run the risk of losing their ability to express their own thoughts and have meaningful discussions. This over-reliance can lead to a loss of creativity, originality and criticism.

On TikTok, an user demonstrated the “brain burp” effect in a video. After recognizing the cover of a Norman Mailer book, “The Naked and the Dead”, at the library, which featured an illustration known as “The 2000 Yard Stare”, he was surprised to see this image outside of its online context.

This illustration, created by artist Tom Lea in 1944, depicts an American soldier who witnessed the horrors of war. It became a popular meme online, known as “1000 Yard Star“, used to express a feeling of trauma or regret after seeing a post on social media.

Josh’s Lunch Box video quickly racked up millions of views and thousands of comments. Some users were surprised to discover the meme was based on a real image and would have been terrified to see it outside of their screen. Others shared similar experiences, where their minds had interpreted real-world objects or events from an online perspective: “my first ‘brain burp’ was when I tried to ‘swipe’ a physical page as if it were a touch screen, I’m still embarrassed by it,” commented a user named @ellivnov, referring to the Netflix series “BoJack Horseman”.

So good or bad? Not that easy.

According to Jeyasingam, the phenomenon of ‘brain rot’ is not necessarily a positive or negative thing. Our brains work in such a way that we enjoy content such as memes and games because they are fun: “What happens when you look at a meme or when you read a meme? Most of the time, nothing. But the reason we do it is because they’re entertaining, they’re fun to watch, and that’s why we continue to indulge in them“, he told SBS News. “Since they are fun, they create a positive emotional connection with us, which means they get straight into our heads. That’s why it’s easier to absorb things when we’re entertained.”

However, the psychiatrist warns that “brain degeneration” can become a problem if people limit themselves to a certain type of content. “A simple analogy would be that you could probably get by on a chocolate diet, but you wouldn’t get very far, even if chocolate tastes really good. […] A balanced diet may not be as fun, but it’s sure to get you much further in terms of health, satisfaction, growth and development.“

On TikTok, compilation videos on YouTubers’ best references are a hit and are constantly included in the comments. Between “Ok, let’s gooo”, “Black apart?” or Marion Cotillard’s “Ok genial” to Squeezie, these videos have millions of views on the social network.