AI Slop, Brainrot & Shitposting: Who’s Moderating the Internet Anymore? – Part I

What Is Brain Rot, Anyway?

If you want to learn more about brain rot, you’re at the right place. If you don’t know what it is, even then, you’re at the right place.

When I visited Rome a few years ago, I realized Italians had given the world fabulous looking Roman God statues to gawk at. They had also created an opportunity for the world visitors to drop a penny at the Trevi fountain to wish for something we didn’t have.

Of course times have changed, and thanks to Looksmaxxers, chiseled cheek bones don’t seem to be only a property of Italian Gods. Now young men can access that through their filters or plastic surgeons. And the Trevi fountain requires us to pay a fee to get close it to throw our wish penny.

What an amazing world we live in.

From Roman Gods to Italian Brain Rot

But, fear not, Italians have added things to their repertoire. Their latest gift to the world seems to be what the internet has dubbed ‘Italian brain rot‘ and characters like Bombardino Crocodilo, Ballerina Cappuccino and Tung Tung Sahur.

Sounds like crazy BS, right? See, I knew we were going to be friends. And that, my friend, is what is called Italian brain rot. I don’t how to describe it except to call it what it is, absolute brain rot content that doesn’t need a brain to engage with. Full disclosure, online forums have Italians protesting that they don’t have anything to do with it. Fair point, one country doesn’t seem to own AI slop at this point.

How Kids Are Consuming It

Here’s the main problem. Most parents have no clue that it exists, yet children are watching mostly that, all day, everyday whenever they plop themselves in front of their devices.

When AI slop content is being generated at an alarming scale, how can we parent for what our children are watching. The goal of Big Tech has always been to create devices and content that have “no logical ending”, can be scrolled endlessly. It’s so crazy to think that the word “doomscroll” is only less than a decade old.

Of course, companies and capitalism are never far behind from any trends. I was recently playing with a few children on the streets of Egypt using a soft toy, which my son told me was Labubu, the brain rot toy. It took me a while to reconcile that the brain rot we are all experiencing online was now being manifested in our hands as a physical toy LOL.

Last Christmas, as I was volunteering as a babysitter at our temple, I was asking the children what they were for Halloween. The older ones were Squid game characters or some went with being Indians (in essence, didn’t dress up that much, their words not mine LOL), and the majority of our 4th to 8th graders were some Marvel character, or the most famous costume of the year probably – one of the K-pop demon hunter girls. Our littlest ones were princesses (obviously) and Minions.

Right around the time I was hustling kids into the different arts and crafts stations we had come up with, a 9 year old walked up to me and in all earnest asked, “Can we please have a Brain Rot section, please?” I laughed out loud and yelled, “Why not?!”

Why Parents Are Struggling

Around the world, in Kindergarten drawing classes, children are drawing pictures of it and are squishing into these plush toys. Again, the worst part is that brain rot finds kids and not the other way around. And of course, one the child starts watching this type of content, the algorithm will outshine any parental controls we are capable of implementing.

While their bodies are growing, kids’ brains only fully form in their mid-20s. So just imagine what AI slop is doing to young developing minds.

Parenting posts and Reddit threads are claiming that some of this type of content has some dark undertones. Like some videos have violence framed as humor or have cultural and religious references used carelessly.

Nostalgia for Simpler Times

All this makes me so nostalgic for older simpler times. In my childhood, we had animated series of Ramayana to watch, or Tom and Jerry that was dubbed in our local languages. But every new episode, which we had to wait for a week, had a premise and a story line.

My own children, 21 and 17 now, have grown up, almost the same way with shows like Arthur, Curious George, The Magic School Bus, WordGirl, Ben 10, Teletubbies, Clifford the Big Red Dog which had a decent story line.

Elmo and Barney the purple dinosaur shows had television characters known for teaching, singing, and imaginative play. Come to think of it, the Sesame street theme song doesn’t feel so annoying after all.

Jokes apart, parenting has gotten harder. Unfortunately, the onus has always been on the parent to teach our children moderation. The fight is real. First it was video games, then came the Pokémon and Roblox addictions, and the outrageous content on YouTube and social media.

Then we have the AI chatbots keeping our young adults hooked for homework and learning. And now, kids consumed by addictive brainrot and adults scrambling to find a way to keep this away from their kids.

Have We Lost the Plot? 

Even if we put some guardrails to it ourselves, unless we educate the masses of parents on it, children will continue to pick it up from other kids in schools and other places they interact with their friends.

On Instagram, I recently found a salesman showcasing his special bridal collection of “Labubu bear bra set”.

Well, somewhere between the Trevi Fountain and a Labubu bra set, we’ve lost the plot.

I rest my case.

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Truth About Technology – A Digital Literacy Project