Brainrot obsession among kids: Parents should act before it’s too late

Anatomy of brainrot: what are they watching?

Typical brainrot is a cocktail of bright colors and disconnected images. The most vivid example is the series Skibidi Toilet (heads singing in toilets), or videos where the screen is split in half: one side shows a cartoon, while the other shows someone cutting kinetic sand or playing Minecraft. This creates overstimulation, leaving the brain no time to rest or reflect.

Nonsensical phrases, visual images that lack logic, such as a shark on three legs wearing Nike sneakers, and strange videos are all typical brainrots. They entertain children and teens (Generation Alpha) while irritating and worrying parents.

Brain-rots have become a parody of cyberpunk and body-modification ideas, which modern kids perceive as a vision of the future. The main principle is combining an animal or human with technology, utensils, or food.

Examples include a fridge-camel, an air-conditioner penguin, or a drone-mouse, reflecting the reality of Generation Alpha, where literally everything is infused with technology.

Each character has a fixed personality: Ballerina Cappuccina is a snowflake who cracks under any stress, while Espresona Signora is cunning and smart. Shark Tralalero Tralala, with cool shoes on three legs, represents someone trying to keep up with the times.

Entire series are made about these characters, going viral and amassing tens of millions of views.

Brainrots (screenshot from video)

Why it fascinates children

The main mechanism is a dopamine loop. Children receive tiny doses of pleasure every 5–10 seconds. Because the content is extremely simplified and absurd, it requires no intellectual effort. The brain switches off, entering a mode of passive consumption.

As child psychologist Yuliia Borysova explains, brainrots contain something childlike, whimsical, and absurd. They should not be seen as intellectual degradation in modern kids, because these are toys and jokes, a way to protect themselves from information overload. Modern children are constantly being taught or instructed, so they are drawn to content that exists just for fun.

Since the trend’s emergence and until early 2025, interest had slightly declined, but it experienced a resurgence with the game Steal the Brainrot. The developer launched it in May on the Roblox platform, and it was purchased by a major company.

The game won the Best Creative Direction category at the 2025 Roblox Innovation Awards and became one of the most popular Roblox games of all time, with an average of one million concurrent users. In August, a new record was set: 20 million players online simultaneously.

The game is somewhat like a mix of Pokémon Go and Monopoly. Players use in-game money to choose and buy brainrots, which generate income every minute. The goal is to find the rarest brainrots and those that bring the most profit. The game also introduces basic entrepreneurship concepts. It has also spawned new memes: if someone copies a friend’s actions in real life or on social media, people say they stole a brainrot.

Developers claim the game is educational, stimulating the brain through novelty and risk. But the darker side is that children get hooked on emotions. The pace is very fast, with competition and excitement, and everything triggers intense passion during live gameplay.

Brainrots (screenshot from video)

Why is this trend dangerous?

Psychologists and educators highlight the main risks:

Emotional overload. If you hear a child screaming, laughing, jumping, crying, whispering during gameplay, or showing bursts of aggression, pay attention; they are likely playing Steal the Brainrot. Children often ignore their parents, cannot calm down, appear overstimulated, and constantly talk about the game.

Loss of concentration. After brainrot, even a regular book or a school lesson seems unbearably boring. The brain gets used to ultra-fast scene changes and refuses to focus on longer tasks.

Language degradation. Children start communicating exclusively using slang memes such as rizz, Skibidi, or fanum-tax, losing the ability to express complex emotions or thoughts.

Harmful challenges. A dangerous TikTok challenge has emerged where kids are encouraged to make a younger sibling cry by using brain-rotting techniques, record it, and post the video for others’ amusement.

Emotional burnout. Constant sensory overstimulation can lead to irritability, sleep disturbances, and anxiety.

Should parents panic?

Experts advise against completely banning the internet, as this usually provokes resistance. Instead, it is important to develop the child’s critical thinking.

Ask questions like What was this video about or Why do you like it. Once a child begins analyzing content, the brainrot effect starts to fade, and the brain returns to active thinking.

Signs of addiction:

• Obsession with the game, skipping lessons to play, staying up at night;
• Emotional dependence, mood swings, irritability, boredom, nothing can fix;
• Rejection of regular gifts, prefers in-game purchases and donations;

The top items in the game cost real money, and children who reach high levels often spend all their pocket money on donations, start asking parents for financial support, or even resort to stealing. Scammers sometimes appear in the game, pretending to be children and trying to extract private information.

Sources: Sources include Roblox, Wikipedia, articles on Osvitoria, Radio Lux, and reviews by Wired and The Verge about the Gen Alpha content phenomenon.