This weeks reading regarding a deep look into Brain Rot and its affect on peoples’ cognitive functions was super fascinating. To a lot of people, Brain Rot is just a funny term you may here on the internet. Many people use it to describe others and themselves without thinking about its true meaning. The study conducted in “Demystifying the New Dilemma of Brain Rot in the Digital Era: A Review” really gave a nice overview on Brain Rot and its harmful affects on people and their cognitive functions. Now the word has a wickedly different connotation overall. I always considered brain rot to be a newer thing (something that has only really existed over the last 10 years) though in reality, it is just an expansion of a wider conversation regarding the emerging tech and people’s obsession with it. When I was younger (2012 is way further away than I want it to be) I remember a lot of talk about how parents needed to watch how their children interact with platforms like instagram, facebook, Vine (RIP) and youtube. I thought back then that it was not that deep and that social media was not even all that bad. My 13 year old brain could never have imagined how much things would change for the worst

In my own experience, I can say that I have been affected by the brain rot over the last couple of years. Things like Tic Tok and Instagram have seemingly become more staples of my daily life than I would like. The constant loop of agreeable content is nice way to waste time. Last year I found myself reading and gaming way less and being on my phone zombie scrolling more and more. The last couple of months I have gotten better at finding better things to take up my time, but I can still waste some hours scrolling away. I think the idea of content that people can consume without thinking sounds super shallow. But in reality it is something that many people get immersed with in a way. Its funny to think about this within the context of A.I. In class we talk about how people use A.I mindlessly on a day to day basis. At the same time I feel that I mindlessly use social media in the same way. I guess I am the pot pointing at the kettle.