The ever-evolving world of chronically online generations, combined with the growing social polarization on the internet, makes it difficult to keep track of all the ways brain rot culture has infiltrated our lives. From memes to slang, the younger generations — Generation Z and Generation Alpha — often reinvent language and humor. As a result, the influences of brain rot have taken on multiple forms and shifted both online and in-person interactions.
Misogyny and Violence:
Incels, according to author Siam Norris are “a group of men and boys who feel sexually rejected by women and are very angry about it.” Existing commonly in online spaces like Reddit or 4chan, these individuals have curated a unique set of vocabulary surrounding sentiments of anti-feminist views and the rampant dehumanization of women. In these spheres, the popular brain rot term “chad” is commonly used to label men that have a lot of sex with women.
Similarly, it is customary to come across popular terms like “alpha” and “sigma” in incel forums. These individuals often self-identify as “betas” or “omegas” — characteristics that contrast those of “alpha males” and “chads.”
Still, the credit for introducing these terms and ideas of hierarchy to the greater community is not assigned to the incel community. Instead, the popularization of these brain rot terms can be accredited to blogger Theodore Robert Beale who came up with the “sociosexual hierarchy,” a pyramid visualization that introduces alphas at the top and omegas at the very bottom. According to an article from The Guardian, Beale claims that separate from the pyramid exist sigmas: “outsiders who don’t play the social game and manage to win at it anyhow.”
In addition, Patrick Bateman, a fictional character from the film “American Psycho,” became a central sigma male figure and intertwined with his previously idolized embodiment of “hustle culture.” Thus came the new internet trend of the “sigma male grindset.” This development led to the mass creation of brain rot content like “14 signs that you’re a sigma,” closely relating to the content and ideals that misogynistic creators endorse.
Misogynistic creators and groups online have been propelled toward mainstream media due to its controversial nature. Oftentimes, this content can be categorized as rage bait, which, according to a BBC article, is “a hook that reflects what’s in that piece of content and comes from a place of trust, whereas rage-baiting content is designed to be manipulative.” As young people come into contact with these groups, they often pick up their ideas and slang.
The casual and widespread use of repetitions of these violent ideas and terms can be seen as an emerging form of everyday sexism. According to a 2002 study, everyday sexism “affected women’s psychological well-being by decreasing their comfort, increasing their feelings of anger and depression and decreasing their state self-esteem.”
“I think what’s needed with social media is something called protective factors — for example, strong relationships,” Foothill College sociology professor John Fox said. “It’s not just about being online, it’s about being only online and not having real face-to-face interactions or friendships, something I’m concerned about.”
Memes and Slang:
In the early 2010s when the popularity of memes reached a high, people primarily referred to memes delivered through graphics, photos and illustrations. In recent years, memes can virtually include anything: words, videos, and traditional graphic memes.
Memes that employ traditional modes through a photo-based graphic have continued to stay relevant with the popularity of the “knee surgery” meme in 2024. It includes the mention of “that feeling when knee surgery is tomorrow” with the photo of a smirking Grinch. The humor in this meme lies primarily in the fact that nobody really knows what it means. It is unique from traditional memes because it has no comedic value on its own. In contrast to traditional memes that were popularized in the early 2010’s, the common trend among many modern-day brain rot memes is that there is no particular meaning behind them.
While there are many examples of harmless memes and slang words popularized from brain rot, there are also various examples of terms with sexual meanings behind them. From “edging” and “gooning” to “Hawk Tuah” — which originated from a girl named Hailey Welch — these terms are often employed casually by children. It’s especially alarming when they use these terms in situations where sexual undertones would be inappropriate and unacceptable.
As much truth as this statement does hold, there is often also a misconception that younger generations have become more obsessed with sex.
“We have a very strange habit of looking back and assuming that generations before us were more innocent, but the reality is that as we grow into adolescence, we become preoccupied with sex; this is true across cultures and history,” said Emilie Owens, Doctoral Research Fellow from the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Oslo. “I would say that what’s happening now is not so much about an increase in sexual meanings as it is about the visibility of all meanings. The real difference between previous generations and now is that anyone can now look up anything on any platform and access literally hundreds of thousands of opinions on the same topic.”
