by Laura Williamson / © 2025, American Heart Association News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
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Doomscrolling. Instagram obsessions. Mindless YouTube video viewing.
Distracting behaviors, yes. But can they actually rot a person’s brain?
[In 2024], Oxford University Press designated “brain rot” as its word of the year, defining it as the “supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state” caused by overconsuming “trivial or unchallenging” material found on social media and other online platforms.
“It’s what happens when you consume too much low-quality online content, which is like junk food for the brain,” said Dr. Andreana Benitez, an associate professor in the department of neurology at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.
But whether that content is actually harming the brain–and how–remains unclear.
Screen habits can shape health
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, half of teenagers in the U.S. spend four hours or more looking at screens each day, and global estimates suggest adults may be online an average of more than six hours per day. There are no federal health guidelines for how many hours of daily screen time are appropriate for teens or adults.
Researchers lack sufficient data to fully understand the concept of brain rot and what it might lead to. “There really isn’t a coherent science around it,” Benitez said.
There is, however, CDC data showing that 1 in 4 teenage frequent scrollers report feeling anxious or depressed.
Some research suggests problems with heavy online use may begin quite young. Adolescents who spend greater amounts of time in front of screens may be more likely to experience mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, and related physical symptoms such as pain, dizziness or nausea. That’s according to a 2024 analysis of data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, the largest long-term child brain development study in the U.S.
Other studies have potentially linked brain rot to emotional desensitization, cognitive overload, negative self-worth and impaired executive function skills, including memory, planning and decision-making.
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