What is the significance of the numbers six and seven? What was so funny about “hawk tuah”? We’ve all heard it: passionately exclaimed, nonsensical phrases echoing through the halls of LM. This collection of terms deemed “brainrot” has spread from niche corners of the internet to a teenager’s daily vocabulary. These jokes originate primarily from Instagram Reels, a platform similar to TikTok where users can upload short videos. Most of these viral videos contain short phrases or terms that are widely received as satirical and repeated to no end. A video previously considered cringe or simply unfunny can be deemed ironically funny and explode overnight as a new brainrot sensation. Yet one has to wonder, what are the implications of this shift in generational humor, and has it truly “rotted” our definition of entertainment, true comedy, and Gen Z’s generational identity?
Dating back to the launch of the hit video-posting app Vine in 2012, short videos with a comedic core have been well-received by teenagers and adults alike, immortalizing the first video memes with millions of views. As social media demographics shifted younger and younger, the platforms have shifted alongside them, capitalizing on their new audience. In late 2019, the app Musical.ly blew up in popularity. On top of this, the COVID-19 pandemic began soon after, and young people inevitably began to spend more and more time online. It wasn’t just for virtual schooling; the internet provided them with their entertainment, social interaction, and just something to do. What first started as a dance app quickly transformed into a whole new form of media. The “For You Page” (FYP), began presenting people with a tailored feed based on their interactions, creating niche subcommunities that came to define the app. These communities shared common interests, largely in their sense of humor. Starting with generic jokes, the echo chambers of the FYP began to fuel a rapid evolution. “Skibidi Toilet,” a web series by the user “DaFuq!?Boom!” on YouTube, blew up on TikTok. Featuring a head sticking out of a toilet, the youth of the world fell in love with brainrot. Soon, this brainrot community would explode in size.
As dopamine-addicted youth began consuming information online like never before, one has to wonder: is it information worth retaining? Nicknamed “brainrot” for its assumed detriment to young minds, this new form of media seems to truly be “rotting” today’s youth. Plaguing conversations, and incorporated into everyday speech patterns, many of today’s youth find themselves struggling to retain a conversation without referencing brainrot. Traditionally, humor has tapped into an individual’s intellectual side. However, the back-pocket phrases of brainrot have simplified intellectual humor. In consequence, “brainrot is digestible and accessible to all,” asserts Andrew Rankin ’26. Interchangeable with “filler words,” brainrot has become an easy way to say something without really saying anything. Alex Jackson ’26 shares, “I feel like using a brainrot is so simple and easy. I don’t even really have to think about what I’m saying, and it’s funny.” Simple words and numbers have become generational inside jokes, putting a frivolous twist on normal interactions. Students find themselves seeking out such jokes even when no real joke is present.
The anti-intellectualism of brainrot is what propagates its community-building effects. People from all walks of life enjoy humor. So why is it that brainrot is so often disregarded as stupid internet humor for the chronically online? For generations, the youth have been criticized for their ideals. Picture the hippies of the ’70s, the punks of the ’80s, and the grunge of the ’90s, all rebelling against what came before them in some shape or form. Gray Lynagh ’26 claims that “brainrot is our universal language.” Beyond that, brainrot is Gen Z’s rebellion, our pushback against an elitist world that takes itself too seriously. A paragon example is the usage of the terms “sigma” and “alpha” males, previously used in a completely unironic context to describe a man’s demeanor and behavior towards women. There are countless similar evolutions of serious events that, once viewed under the lens of brainrot, have never recovered: the TikTok Rizz Party, “Gen X will rise,” and KSI’s “Thick of It.” Brainrot humor, beyond a quick laugh, allows for further scrutiny and criticism of disregarded topics. The use of humor to dissect very real topics is not something new, yet Gen Z’s approach is ingrained as a foundational part of what makes our generation unique.
Brainrot is a fundamental factor of our generational experience. We’ve laughed, loved, and lived through each meme’s creation and destruction, forming friendships through the shared love for a niche Reels community. It has changed our definition of entertainment and comedy, distorting the limits of irony and satire. What lies in store for internet humor as Gen Alpha joins social media? Likely, their own generation’s form of humor, one that will seem ridiculous and inaccessible to us. But the collection of jokes that comprises brainrot, our niche community of humor, is an integral part of life as a high schooler in today’s age. As Luca Furer ’26 puts it, “67 is everywhere… You can’t escape it.”
