Circa 2010, one of my primary school teachers famously referred to the television as the “dumb box”.
As a self-proclaimed TV freak, I would get so annoyed every time she said it, simply because I couldn’t understand how something that entertained me for hours was dumb. In my mind, TV was cartoons, news and fun documentaries that I enjoyed watching with my family. How could something like that ever be dumb?
But looking back now … she might have been noticing something deeper about how media works on our minds.
Long before TikTok, doomscrolling and endless algorithm feeds, she foretold a sentiment we’re hearing more about today: Brain Rot.
The term brain rot, named the Oxford Word of the Year 2024 by Oxford University Press, refers to “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. It can also refer to the actual content likely to lead to such deterioration”.
Every era worries about how its current media shapes the mind. In the 20th century, TV was often blamed for shortening attention spans. Today it’s the same conversation again, just with different screens. The concern has shifted to short-form, algorithm-driven content designed to keep people scrolling. These platforms are built to reward speed, reaction, shock and repetition.
To me, brain rot is not just about watching something silly, but rather our patterns of endless scrolling and over-consumption of fast clips. Let’s be real, algorithms keep feeding content designed to capture attention but sometimes offer very little substance. You know the kind where videos end, and you genuinely ask yourself, wait … what was that even about? Or where you watch videos, laugh and scroll but two hours later you couldn’t explain a single thing you watched.
Over time, constant exposure to this type of media can affect how we process information. Researchers studying digital attention have pointed to several patterns linked to heavy consumption of low-effort content:
- shorter attention spans
- difficulty focusing on longer or more
- complex material
- constant stimulation seeking
- reduced tolerance for boredom or silence
None of this means that humour, memes or light entertainment is bad. We all need a little nonsense sometimes. But when most of what we consume is designed to hook attention instead of feed curiosity, that’s when the “dumb box” starts looking less like an insult and more like a warning.
So how do you know when what you’re inching a little too close to brain rot territory?
Here are a couple signs:
- It makes no sense – You’re watching, things are happening, people are reacting and sounds are going off … but there’s no real story, point or takeaway. Then the video, ends and you realise you can’t explain what it was actually about.
- It relies purely on reaction, noise or shock – Loud reactions, exaggerated faces, random edits, chaotic pacing and intense music … all replacing actual ideas or storytelling.
- You just saw five more just like it – Not even fully intentional. It’s a mix of what you’ve been engaging with and what keeps getting served to you, so you end up in a loop of the same kind of content without really choosing it.
What my teacher warned about television wasn’t entirely wrong. The difference now is that our “dumb box” no longer sits in the corner of the living room. It lives inches from our faces, beside us while we sleep, and in our pockets every single day.
Kionna Hall
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