Kat Piantka | Editor-in-Chief
November 21, 2025
It’s nearly impossible to go through a conversation without hearing a jumble of meaningless expressions that often leave you wondering if this generation speaks English anymore. If this is the case, you are not alone, it is just our unfortunate reality as the Alpha and Gen Z generations were practically raised off of social media and are now creating a secret language that is evolving each day.
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, we became increasingly reliant on social media platforms for entertainment and this trend, unfortunately, was not broken and only worsened long after social distancing came to a close. Now, teens are physically incapable of having a conversation with others without gravitating towards their cell phones and yearning for the brief moments that allow for doomscrolling. Unless, of course, the phones are taken away and we are forced to interact like normal human beings. Before we know it, we will be unable to partake in cherished conversations that don’t include brainrot as this dialect continues to spread like a disease; many feel the need to hop on trend or else they will be left out of, in their opinion, the greatest inside joke.
Parents and teens cannot keep making excuses for this generation and their gravitation towards social media which was allegedly inevitable. Sure, technology use is practically unavoidable as we are constantly on screens in classes and now with the age of AI, which is a whole other problem. However, we need to learn how to use it wisely without ‘rotting’ our brains away.
According to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, doomscrolling or brainrotting, can have grave impacts on not only our emotional health but physical health. For example, it can lead to “reduced attention span, diminished critical thinking, exposure to misinformation or harmful information, emotional fatigue, social isolation, [and] physical symptoms.” These physical symptoms include “headaches, nausea, difficulty sleeping, [and] elevated low blood pressure.” Not only do you sound significantly less intelligent, but you are compromising your health and exposing yourself to potentially harmful and most definitely incorrect information if you are choosing to educate yourself on TikTok and Instagram reels. This is especially a problem regarding politics and world news as so few people actually watch and read credible news.
English teacher Mr. Ho remarked that the “widespread nature of [brain rot] and the accessibility of technology” has caused teens to be easily influenced. He argued that society shoves us into a “never ending echo chamber” where the same ideas are “regurgitated,” but the greatest concern that brain rot arises is “the killing of original thought.”
Many believe, teachers included, that brain rot and the new slang is entertaining and fun as adults try to hop on trend by learning it on their own because if you can’t stop them why not join them? Freshman Maddyn Oritz shared that she thinks that “brain rot can be really funny but when parents and teachers use it, it’s not cool anymore.” This is a sentiment that many students share as they would prefer that Millennials and Gen X would not try to learn their special language in order to appear trendy or hip.
For teachers and parents wondering what their children and students are saying here is a compiled list of the most commonly used and trending brain rot expressions:
Pull up: Attend something
Locked in: Focused
Op: Someone you hate
Pick me: Annoying overbearing girl who craves male attention
Chopped: Looking ugly or a little rough
67: Two numbers that are fun to say for no apparent reason
Mid: Average or medicore
Cook: Doing something exceptionally well
I’m cooked: I’m a complete disaster or failure
Clocked: Call someone out or it’s making sense now
Sending me: Extremely funny
It’s giving: Reminds me of
Main character: Being confident
Twin: Same
Clipped: A bad photo was taken of you
Diabolical: Awful, crazy
Unc: If you don’t know what this is you’re unc
Huzz: Husband
Chuzz: Chopped husband
PMO: Pissing me off
Delulu: Delusional
Sus: Suspicious
Rizz: Charisma
Skibidi: Cool or weird
However, this list only reflects on terms deemed as brain rot that are extremely prevalent in this generation’s dialect; there are many more expressions or references to memes that are used daily. Additionally, words that are used just as commonly and sound just as unintelligent are “like,” “dude,” and “bro” and it’s practically impossible to have a conversation with a tween or teen who will not use “like” at least a handful of times. Parents and teachers should encourage children to diverge away from constant use of these words and brain rot in general in order to preserve this generation that is incapable of existing without social media. Unfortunately, it appears that AI is the next epidemic impacting the future of education and impacting many students’ ethics.
While the trend of brain rot can be fun, it should be used moderately by children because what appears “cool” and “trendy” right now will seem embarrassing and immature later. Also, we should not be so reliant on social media and technology for entertainment or easily influenced by our algorithms or what others around us are doing in order to fit in. If this trend continues, we will all be brainrotted clones who are unable to think for ourselves without technology.
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