Generation Brain Rot
We live in a time when social media has become almost impossible to escape as our phones are always there to fill any free moment we have. We zombie scroll through short videos, memes, and trends in an endless loop of content, sitting for hours with our bodies frozen except for our thumbs.
This toxic habit is what Oxford university refers to as “brain rot” a repulsive term defined as “supposed deterioration” of a person’s mental or intellectual state, particularly as a result of consuming excessive amounts of trivial or unchallenging online content. The term was even chosen as Oxford’s Word of the Year in 2024.
Of course, brain rot is not a medical condition, and our brains do not literally “rot” because we watch short videos. The expression is rather used to describe consuming so much shallow and effortless content that it starts to affect the way we use our attention, our time and, perhaps more importantly, our minds.
The problem, then, is not simply social media. There is nothing inherently wrong with watching a funny video, relaxing online or using technology for entertainment. The problem begins when entertainment becomes the default activity whenever we have nothing else to do.
Young people are probably the most exposed to this phenomenon. They have grown up surrounded by smartphones and social media, and many of them have become accustomed to this dopamine stimulating content that is designed specifically for their personal interests.
This constant stimulation can make slower activities seem much less attractive. Studying for an exam, reading a book or learning something difficult requires patience. Scrolling requires almost none. You simply move your finger and the next piece of entertainment appears.
A recent study found an association between problematic social media use and increased inattention and impulsivity among adolescents, raising even more concerns over the scope of damage that could be inflicted to this demographic.
Even without claiming that social media is literally ruining young people’s brains, the habit itself is worth questioning. What happens when a person becomes so used to constant stimulation that silence becomes unbearable, reading feels exhausting and being alone with one’s own thoughts turns into a prison?
There is also the question of time. An hour spent scrolling may not feel like an hour wasted because it is filled with entertainment from beginning to end. But when this happens every day, the hours add up. Time that could have been spent studying, exercising, developing a skill, talking to family or simply doing something productive simply disappears.
For Muslim youth, there is another side to the problem that is much more alarming
The internet has made many forms of inappropriate content available with an ease that previous generations could hardly have imagined. A young person can come across revealing clothing, sexually suggestive videos, explicit jokes or sexual references within seconds. In many cases, they do not even have to search for them. They can simply appear while scrolling.
From an Islamic perspective, this is particularly serious because as Muslims we are commanded to lower our gaze and guard our chastity. Allah says:
“Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and guard their chastity. That is purer for them.”
Yet today’s social media environment can make this considerably more difficult. A teenager may open an application simply to watch something funny and find himself exposed to content that he never asked for yet is extremely difficult to ignore. If he continues scrolling for hours, the exposure is no longer occasional. It becomes a regular part of his digital environment.
And sexualised content is not the only issue. Gambling, alcohol, vulgar language, illicit relationships and other similar behaviours are often presented online as jokes, trends or harmless entertainment. Something that should be taken seriously can be reduced to a meme, a challenge or a few seconds of comedy.
This is one of the most troubling aspects of brain rot among Muslim youth: the same endless scrolling that consumes their time can also expose them, over and over again, to things that not only ruin their relationship with their surroundings but also their faith.
There is another point that deserves attention: what we choose to do with our time says something about what we value.
A young Muslim who spends several hours a day scrolling is not simply losing those hours. That time could have been spent reading Qur’an, studying, gaining useful knowledge, exercising, helping the family or developing a skill.
The problem is especially deceptive because scrolling does not feel like doing nothing. There is always something happening on the screen. There is always another video, another joke, another argument or another trend. Yet when the phone is finally put down, absolutely nothing has been gained.
And for a Muslim, time is not something to be treated carelessly. Every hour that passes is an hour of one’s life that will never return.
So what to do and how can we combat this? The answer is certainly not to declare war on technology. Smartphones, social media and the internet can be incredibly useful. They give us access to knowledge, communication and opportunities that previous generations never had.
What needs to change is the way we use them. We need to become more careful about what we allow into our feeds and more aware about how much time we are actually spending online. If an account repeatedly exposes us to inappropriate material, there is no reason to keep following it. If we find ourselves opening an application every time we become bored, perhaps that’s when that application needs to be deleted.
The digital world should not be treated as a place where our values somehow stop applying. Lowering the gaze still matters when the image is on a phone screen. Modesty still matters when immodesty is trending. And avoiding what is haram still matters when millions of people online treat it as
If we spend less time scrolling but fill that time with nothing, we will eventually return to the same habits. Reading, sport, study, hobbies, meaningful conversations and beneficial content can give the mind something far better to consume.
Overall, technology itself is neither the enemy nor the problem. The problem begins when we lose control of our attention and allow trivial entertainment to occupy a place in our lives that it was never meant to have.
After all, we only get one mind, one set of eyes and a limited amount of time. What we choose to give them deserves some thought.