Brand Expert Shares 3 Subtle Signs We’re Entering A ‘Post-Brain Rot Era’ That Prioritizes In-Person Connection Over Mindless Scrolling
Here's to hoping we connect with one another more authentically in 2025.
Pheelings media | Shutterstock Brain rot is defined as "the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging."
The term was named 2024's word of the year by Oxford University Press for its relevance this past year; however, brand strategy consultant Eugene Healey believes society is moving past brain rot in 2025. He is optimistic that we are entering a new period that prioritizes in-person connection over mindless scrolling.
Here are 3 signs we're entering a 'post-brain rot era,' according to a brand expert:
1. IRL as the new status symbol.
Healey observed that in 2024 there was a focus from luxury brands on promoting in-person activities such as book clubs and pop-ups. "I'm predicting this is gonna drive an attitude that spending more time IRL is seen as a status symbol," he explained, "which conversely means that being tech-addicted will be seen as a low-status trait."
He expanded on IRL, or in real life, interaction, predicting it would lead to more in-person meetings in the professional world. He credited this shift to the increased use of AI.
"Once we collectively understand that it's capable of drafting emails, writing content, and automating half of the job that most people do, we're gonna want to see the human in front of us so we can sense check ourselves whether they have any capabilities at all," Healey theorized.
2. AI slop and algo-failure.
“Algorithms failed us by flattening our culture into a world where everything looks, feels, and sounds the same, but those algorithms are not equipped to handle the deluge of AI slop that's heading our way,” he noted. The "slop" Healey is referring to is AI content created by mushing together pre-existing media to create "a copy of a copy of a copy," or "a sort of super brain rot."
While most humans familiar with the internet and AI can tell the difference, the algorithms often cannot, meaning social media platforms will become inundated with pointless AI content to an extent Healey said audiences will find "repulsive."
3. Short-form burnout and brand-as-media.
Prostock-studio | Shutterstock
"Part of the term brain rot is acknowledging that a lot of short-form content is just unsatisfying to consume," Healey said, noting that this is leading to a desire among social media users for long-form content with more substance.
“I think great brands are gonna respond to this by starting to behave more like media companies where they're gonna have their own in-house curators, editors, writers, photographers, videographers,” he suggested. “That's already opening the door for more diverse social content like mini-series, game shows, documentaries.” He also indicated that offline content, like magazines and books, will make a comeback.
With the impending TikTok ban, it seems many creators won't have a choice but to move to a different platform, and perhaps shift their content when they do so.
Sahlah Syeda is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.