Artificial intelligence is getting a little too powerful nowadays. At least, that’s an argument that could be made for Italian brain rot, an internet phenomenon that has become wildly popular in recent times. This absurd meme has exploded into being a regular form of vernacular among Gen-Zers, including those at THS.
If you use social media, there’s a good chance that you’ve seen compilations of AI-generated characters: a combination of inanimate objects and animals with rhyming names that may or may not be actually Italian. These characters are often shown in surreal universes, with many characters being formed by a combination of animals or other everyday objects. For example, the well-known “Tralalero Tralala” character is an exotic shark with three legs, wearing Nike shoes at a beach. The amount of content online about these fictitious characters is almost absurd: numerous battles, tier lists, and quizzes can be found just on YouTube alone.
Interestingly, the term “brain rot” has been around for a long time, even appearing in Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden in 1854 during the American transcendentalist movement. Since then, the word has taken on its modern meaning, and in a sense, the words that comprise Italian brain rot are just the latest installation of a series of internet memes and terms that have shaped the younger generations’ diction. The popularity of these words have come to a point that parents and their children are having trouble communicating with each other, according to NBC News. The generation gap between parents and their children likely contributed to such an issue, as younger generations may tend to adapt humorous language that feels frankly incomprehensible to older generations. This confusing yet catchy phenomenon has grown so much in recent years that in 2024, it was even named Oxford’s Word of the Year.
However, despite how ridiculous Italian brain rot actually is, there may actually be a reason behind its immense popularity. Generation Alpha and Generation X have become obsessed with short videos on social media sites such as Instagram and TikTok, a behavior that skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Labor. Italian brain rot is random, stupid, and exactly the type of mind-numbing post that teenagers crave while scrolling on social media.
In fact, you probably know someone who is obsessed with using these terms. So we went ahead and interviewed students and educators from THS alike on their thoughts about the trend that’s been taking over the internet. Some students believe that the trend has become a nuisance as they constantly swarm the algorithm.
“I think that Italian brain rot was funny at first, but it got really annoying later on” Anthony Kang (’26) said regarding the short-lived comicality of the trend. “Everyone became more ‘stupid’ because of it, and I hope that the TikTok algorithm will get rid of it soon.”
Other students think otherwise, believing that the trend should be taken more lightly: “I think that Italian Brain rot has helped kids like us enjoy their free time and have something to talk about… and in a way it even cuts language barriers,” Adir Shtalyrd (’26) said. “I’ve been following brain rot in general for around a year now, and I’ve been able to get more updates about Italian brain rot from Instagram Reels since I don’t have TikTok. In the end, it [brain rot] could be helpful or distracting, depending on how you use it.”
Clearly, students of THS hold conflicting views on whether or not they support this new trend.
Some educators have been unaware of the trend and haven’t been impressed when exposed to it. This has been the case for Mr. Curko, a precalculus and Calculus BC teacher.
“It’s just a colossal waste of time,” he said when he was shown a picture with the type of images associated with the phenomenon.
However, other teachers, especially those with children who consume the same social media that we do, are aware of what’s going on. Mrs. Pelaez-Martinez, a Spanish and Italian teacher, is one of them. “I have students tell me these things, and my daughter is into it, and [the trend] kind of makes me laugh,” she said. “It’s brain rot, so it’s not really an intellectual thing.” However, there is one silver lining for her about this viral trend: “What I do think is useful is that the words help with [Italian] pronunciation,” she said. “It’s gibberish, it’s completely nonsense, but at least the pronunciation is on point.”
Like all other seemingly meaningless internet trends, though, Italian brain rot also has the capacity to convey harmful information. Similar to the hazards associated with previous trends like the Tide Pod challenge or the skull-breaker challenge that has caused physical harm to people trying to perform these actions, there are already malevolent people on the internet adding demeaning words and phrases that could be considered offensive towards certain groups. Many people may be unaware of this when they are just trying to follow along with the trend and don’t understand the meaning behind the words that they are saying.
Italian brain rot may be the newest form of mental degradation, but the similarities between it and past trends are clear. Nonetheless, it is important to be aware of the pitfalls which can always be associated with these viral trends. Ultimately, the main takeaway is this: though Italian brain rot can be a nonsensical form of language for the newer generations, make sure that you actually know the meaning of the words you’re saying.
