Brain rot means pointless social media content: short, fast, loud videos, memes and jokes about nothing. Literally, the phrase suggests your brain is rotting. People use it in chats and among friends, usually ironically, and often about what they watch themselves. With a teacher, a colleague or an IELTS examiner, it's better to say something simpler: silly videos or pointless content. In an essay, the word certainly doesn't belong.
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pure/total brain rot; brain rot + videos/content/memes; watch/scroll through + brain rot
- My feed is pure brain rot right now, just loud memes and weird dance clips.
- I watched brain rot for an hour instead of revising for my exam.
- That clip makes zero sense, it's total brain rot, but I keep sending it to everyone.
What changed
First versionDear Ms Hart, my son watches too much brain rot on his phone after school.
RevisionDear Ms Hart, my son watches too many silly videos on his phone after school.
This is a letter to a teacher, and trendy slang sounds out of place in it; the reader may not even know the word. The neutral replacement is silly videos. Much also changes to many, because videos can be counted.
Don't confuse it with brain drain, the departure of educated professionals to other countries. That's a neutral term, and it actually works well in an IELTS essay: Brain drain is a serious problem for many developing countries.
Your turn
My brother keeps sending me loud, pointless meme videos. Pure ___, honestly.
Show the answer
brain rot — The brother keeps sending loud, pointless videos, and that's exactly brain rot. Brain drain is skilled people leaving a country, and it has nothing to do with memes.
Write to a friend about a pointless video that you enjoyed anyway. Describe what happens in it.
You have to see this: a cat dancing in a tiny helmet. Pure brain rot, and I love it.
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