Journalist’s Overview: A young and attractive Douyin content creator died suddenly after being encouraged and pushed to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Platform algorithms that conceal the vaccine’s real harms are deliberately guiding and entrapping users, using data networks to create psychological numbness that endangers physical health and human life. / Journalist: Han Rongl 记者综述：抖音年轻靓丽的博主猝死于被激励推动新冠疫苗，掩盖真实危害的网站算法蓄意在诱导构陷、数据网络精神麻痹关系的身体健康与生命安全。/ 记者：韩荣利
FOCAL POINTS (COURAGEOUS DISCOURSE) STUDY: TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts Induce Measurable "Brain Rot" Doomscrolling, zombie scrolling, and dopamine-driven streams of low-quality content are producing measurable cognitive impairment across an entire generation. NICOLAS HULSCHER, MPH 23 NOV 2025 AT 20:41
1854年，亨利·大衛·梭羅（Henry David Thoreau）的《瓦爾登（Walden）》一書中首次記錄了「腦腐」的使用，該書記錄了他在自然界中過著簡單生活方式的經歷。 作為他結論的一部分，梭羅批評了社會貶低複雜思想或可以用多種方式解釋的思想，而偏向於簡單思想的傾向，並認為這表明了精神和智力努力的普遍下降：「當英國努力治癒馬鈴薯腐爛時，難道不會做出任何努力來治癒腦腐爛嗎——腦腐爛更廣泛和致命？」
‘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.” Our experts noticed that ‘brain rot’ gained new prominence this year as a term used to capture concerns about the impact of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media. The term increased in usage frequency by 230% between 2023 and 2024. The first recorded use of ‘brain rot’ was found in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden, which reports his experiences of living a simple lifestyle in the natural world. As part of his conclusions, Thoreau criticizes society’s tendency to devalue complex ideas, or those that can be interpreted in multiple ways, in favour of simple ones, and sees this as indicative of a general decline in mental and intellectual effort: “While England endeavours to cure the potato rot, will not any endeavour to cure the brain-rot – which prevails so much more widely and fatally?”
Now, a peer-reviewed paper titled, Demystifying the New Dilemma of Brain Rot in the Digital Era: A Review, confirms that brain rot is real: the digital environment is chemically, cognitively, and psychologically degrading the developing human brain. And the damage is measurable.
According to the study, brain rot isn’t a meme. It’s a documented state of cognitive atrophy, driven by overstimulation, dopamine feedback loops, and nonstop exposure to low-quality digital content. The authors conducted a rapid review, systematically analyzing 381 studies, filtering to 35 high-quality papers published between 2023–2024. Here’s what they found:
The Core Mechanism: Overstimulation + Dopamine Feedback Loops The review shows that young people now average 6.5 hours per day online — primarily on algorithm-driven platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and endless-scroll feeds engineered for split-second novelty. Most of the content involves rapid, low-information stimuli: ultrashort videos, memes, reaction clips, and trivial entertainment fragments that provide novelty without cognitive substance. These platforms deliver rapid bursts of artificially rewarding stimuli, creating a cycle of:
…
The study describes this as a shift from healthy, top-down cognitive control to bottom-up, dopamine-seeking impulsivity.
該研究將此描述為從健康的、自上而下的認知控制轉變為自下而上的尋求多巴胺的衝動。
末日滾動：長期接觸負面、威脅或怪誕內容
許多人隨意使用該術語，但該研究提供了一個精確的功能定義：
Doomscrolling = 強迫性消費情感負面或基於威脅的內容。
Doomscrolling產生：
Doomscrolling: Chronic Exposure to Negative, Threatening, or Grotesque Content Many people casually use the term, but the study provides a precise functional definition: Doomscrolling = the compulsive consumption of emotionally negative or threat-based content. Doomscrolling produces:
根據評論，末日滾動直接損害了工作記憶、情緒調節和持續注意力，加速了認知磨損。
According to the review, doomscrolling directly impairs working memory, emotional regulation, and sustained attention, accelerating cognitive wear-and-tear.
殭屍滾動：損害認知的解離性「無意識漂移」
毀滅滾動在情感上很強烈。 殭屍滾動在情感上是空洞的。
殭屍滾動=被動的、無意的、解離的滑動內容，沒有目標、意識或參與度。
殭屍滾動與以下相關：
Zombie Scrolling: The Dissociative “Mindless Drift” That Damages Cognition Doomscrolling is emotionally intense. Zombie scrolling is emotionally empty. Zombie scrolling = passive, intentionless, dissociative swiping through content with no goal, awareness, or engagement. Zombie scrolling is associated with:
The review notes that zombie scrolling may be even more insidious because users don’t feel stressed, so they underestimate the damage — yet the cognitive decline accumulates quietly over time.
Preclinical Dementia Signatures Are Appearing in Younger Generations A striking findings of the review is that digital-era cognitive decline now mirrors several early dementia–like neurobiological patterns. Across neuroimaging and behavioral studies, excessive digital exposure is linked to reduced hippocampal engagement, producing shallow, fragmented memory formation rather than durable consolidation. At the same time, prefrontal cortex function—which governs planning, inhibition, and decision-making—shows measurable degradation under chronic multitasking and rapid-fire media input. This constant overstimulation imposes a chronic cognitive load on the neocortex, creating patterns consistent with accelerated cognitive aging. Notably, several longitudinal findings suggest an elevated lifetime risk of cognitive decline, indicating these effects may not be transient. These changes are well-documented through fMRI and controlled studies included in the review, demonstrating that preclinical neurodegenerative signatures are already emerging in younger populations.
Brain Rot: A Real Neurocognitive Syndrome The study shows a clear, repeatable pattern: excessive digital exposure to low-quality content degrades working memory, sustained attention, executive function, problem-solving, and emotional regulation. Constant notifications and rapid content switching impair information holding and focus, while overstimulation weakens planning, self-control, and cognitive flexibility. Both doomscrolling’s emotional overload and zombie scrolling’s emotional emptiness destabilize the central nervous system, producing a more rigid, impulsive, and cognitively inefficient brain. Adolescents exhibit the most severe deficits, underscoring the risk of long-term impact. The evidence confirms brain rot is real, emerging early, accelerating quickly, and consuming a generation. This is one of the core reasons why cognitive disability is now a public health concern in the United States. Cognitive impairment is skyrocketing with no end in sight:
隨著人工智慧產生的「大腦腐爛」內容開始急劇擴散，成年前廣泛的認知能力下降可能很快就會成為常態。
Widespread cognitive decline before adulthood may soon become the norm as AI-generated “brain rot” content begins to drastically proliferate.
焦點（勇敢的論述）
研究：抖音、Instagram和YouTube短片
誘導可衡量的
「腦腐爛」
厄運滾動、殭屍滾動和多巴胺驅動的低品質內容流正在產生一整代人可衡量的認知障礙。
尼古拉斯·赫爾舍，英里/小時
2025年11月23日20:41
Journalist’s Overview: A young and attractive Douyin content creator died suddenly after being encouraged and pushed to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Platform algorithms that conceal the vaccine’s real harms are deliberately guiding and entrapping users, using data networks to create psychological numbness that endangers physical health and human life.
/ Journalist: Han Rongl
记者综述：抖音年轻靓丽的博主猝死于被激励推动新冠疫苗，掩盖真实危害的网站算法蓄意在诱导构陷、数据网络精神麻痹关系的身体健康与生命安全。/ 记者：韩荣利
FOCAL POINTS (COURAGEOUS DISCOURSE)
STUDY: TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts
Induce Measurable
"Brain Rot"
Doomscrolling, zombie scrolling, and dopamine-driven streams of low-quality content are producing measurable cognitive impairment across an entire generation.
NICOLAS HULSCHER, MPH
23 NOV 2025 AT 20:41
https://open.substack.com/pub/petermcculloughmd/p/study-tiktok-instagram-and-youtube
作者：Nicolas Hulscher，MPH
2024年，「大腦腐爛」從一個線上模因轉為牛津年度詞彙。
By Nicolas Hulscher, MPH
In 2024, “brain rot” went from an online meme to the Oxford Word of the Year.
「大腦腐爛」被定義為「一個人的精神或智力狀態的假定惡化，特別是被視為過度消費被認為微不足道或無挑戰的材料（現在尤其是線上內容）的結果。」
我們的專家注意到，「大腦腐爛」今年作為一個術語獲得了新的突出地位，用於捕捉對過度消費低品質線上內容的影響的擔憂，特別是在社交媒體上。 從2023年到2024年，該術語的使用頻率增加了230%。
1854年，亨利·大衛·梭羅（Henry David Thoreau）的《瓦爾登（Walden）》一書中首次記錄了「腦腐」的使用，該書記錄了他在自然界中過著簡單生活方式的經歷。 作為他結論的一部分，梭羅批評了社會貶低複雜思想或可以用多種方式解釋的思想，而偏向於簡單思想的傾向，並認為這表明了精神和智力努力的普遍下降：「當英國努力治癒馬鈴薯腐爛時，難道不會做出任何努力來治癒腦腐爛嗎——腦腐爛更廣泛和致命？」
‘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.”
Our experts noticed that ‘brain rot’ gained new prominence this year as a term used to capture concerns about the impact of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media. The term increased in usage frequency by 230% between 2023 and 2024.
The first recorded use of ‘brain rot’ was found in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden, which reports his experiences of living a simple lifestyle in the natural world. As part of his conclusions, Thoreau criticizes society’s tendency to devalue complex ideas, or those that can be interpreted in multiple ways, in favour of simple ones, and sees this as indicative of a general decline in mental and intellectual effort: “While England endeavours to cure the potato rot, will not any endeavour to cure the brain-rot – which prevails so much more widely and fatally?”
現在，一篇題為《揭開數字時代大腦腐爛的新困境：評論》的同行評審論文證實了大腦腐爛是真實的：數字環境在化學、認知和心理上正在退化發育中的人類大腦。 損害是可以衡量的。
Now, a peer-reviewed paper titled, Demystifying the New Dilemma of Brain Rot in the Digital Era: A Review, confirms that brain rot is real: the digital environment is chemically, cognitively, and psychologically degrading the developing human brain. And the damage is measurable.
根據這項研究，腦腐病不是模因。 這是一種有記錄的認知萎縮狀態，由過度刺激、多巴胺反饋迴路和不間斷地接觸低品質數字內容驅動。
作者進行了快速審查，系統分析了381項研究，篩選了2023-2024年期間發表的35篇高品質論文。 這是他們發現的：
According to the study, brain rot isn’t a meme. It’s a documented state of cognitive atrophy, driven by overstimulation, dopamine feedback loops, and nonstop exposure to low-quality digital content.
The authors conducted a rapid review, systematically analyzing 381 studies, filtering to 35 high-quality papers published between 2023–2024. Here’s what they found:
核心機制：過度刺激+多巴胺反饋迴路
審查顯示，年輕人現在平均每天上網6.5小時——主要是在演算法驅動的平臺上，如抖音、Instagram Reels、YouTube Shorts，以及為一秒新奇而設計的無盡滾動提要。
大多數內容涉及快速、低資訊的刺激：超短影片、模因、反應剪輯和瑣碎的娛樂片段，這些片段提供了沒有認知實質的新穎性。
這些平臺提供了快速爆發的人為獎勵刺激，創造了一個迴圈：
The Core Mechanism: Overstimulation + Dopamine Feedback Loops
The review shows that young people now average 6.5 hours per day online — primarily on algorithm-driven platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and endless-scroll feeds engineered for split-second novelty.
Most of the content involves rapid, low-information stimuli: ultrashort videos, memes, reaction clips, and trivial entertainment fragments that provide novelty without cognitive substance.
These platforms deliver rapid bursts of artificially rewarding stimuli, creating a cycle of:
…
The study describes this as a shift from healthy, top-down cognitive control to bottom-up, dopamine-seeking impulsivity.
該研究將此描述為從健康的、自上而下的認知控制轉變為自下而上的尋求多巴胺的衝動。
末日滾動：長期接觸負面、威脅或怪誕內容
許多人隨意使用該術語，但該研究提供了一個精確的功能定義：
Doomscrolling = 強迫性消費情感負面或基於威脅的內容。
Doomscrolling產生：
Doomscrolling: Chronic Exposure to Negative, Threatening, or Grotesque Content
Many people casually use the term, but the study provides a precise functional definition:
Doomscrolling = the compulsive consumption of emotionally negative or threat-based content.
Doomscrolling produces:
根據評論，末日滾動直接損害了工作記憶、情緒調節和持續注意力，加速了認知磨損。
According to the review, doomscrolling directly impairs working memory, emotional regulation, and sustained attention, accelerating cognitive wear-and-tear.
殭屍滾動：損害認知的解離性「無意識漂移」
毀滅滾動在情感上很強烈。 殭屍滾動在情感上是空洞的。
殭屍滾動=被動的、無意的、解離的滑動內容，沒有目標、意識或參與度。
殭屍滾動與以下相關：
Zombie Scrolling: The Dissociative “Mindless Drift” That Damages Cognition
Doomscrolling is emotionally intense. Zombie scrolling is emotionally empty.
Zombie scrolling = passive, intentionless, dissociative swiping through content with no goal, awareness, or engagement.
Zombie scrolling is associated with:
評論指出，殭屍滾動可能更加陰險，因為使用者不會感到壓力，所以他們低估了傷害——但隨著時間的推移，認知能力的下降會悄悄積累。
The review notes that zombie scrolling may be even more insidious because users don’t feel stressed, so they underestimate the damage — yet the cognitive decline accumulates quietly over time.
臨床前痴呆症特徵出現在年輕一代中
審查的一個引人注目的發現是，數字時代的認知衰退現在反映了幾種早期類似痴呆症的神經生物學模式。 在神經成像和行為研究中，過度的數字暴露與海馬參與度降低有關，產生淺層、碎片化的記憶形成，而不是持久的鞏固。
與此同時，前額葉皮層功能——控制規劃、抑制和決策——在慢性多工處理和快速介質輸入下顯示出可測量的退化。
這種持續的過度刺激給新皮層帶來了慢性的認知負荷，創造了與加速認知衰老一致的模式。 值得注意的是，一些縱向發現表明，認知能力下降的終身風險增加，表明這些影響可能不是短暫的。 這些變化透過fMRI和綜述中包含的對照研究得到了很好的記錄，這表明臨床前神經退行性特徵已經在年輕人群中出現。
Preclinical Dementia Signatures Are Appearing in Younger Generations
A striking findings of the review is that digital-era cognitive decline now mirrors several early dementia–like neurobiological patterns. Across neuroimaging and behavioral studies, excessive digital exposure is linked to reduced hippocampal engagement, producing shallow, fragmented memory formation rather than durable consolidation.
At the same time, prefrontal cortex function—which governs planning, inhibition, and decision-making—shows measurable degradation under chronic multitasking and rapid-fire media input.
This constant overstimulation imposes a chronic cognitive load on the neocortex, creating patterns consistent with accelerated cognitive aging. Notably, several longitudinal findings suggest an elevated lifetime risk of cognitive decline, indicating these effects may not be transient. These changes are well-documented through fMRI and controlled studies included in the review, demonstrating that preclinical neurodegenerative signatures are already emerging in younger populations.
腦腐病：一種真正的神經認知綜合徵
這項研究顯示了一個明確、可重複的模式：過度接觸低品質內容的數字會降低工作記憶、持續注意力、執行功能、解決問題和情緒調節。 持續的通知和快速的內容切換會損害資訊的保留和注意力，而過度刺激會削弱計劃、自我控制和認知靈活性。
厄運滾動的情緒過載和殭屍滾動的情緒空虛都破壞了中樞神經系統的穩定，產生了一個更僵硬、衝動和認知效率低下的大腦。 青少年表現出最嚴重的缺陷，這凸顯了長期影響的風險。
證據證實，腦腐爛是真實的，早期出現，加速迅速，消耗一代人。
這是認知障礙現在成為美國公共衛生問題的核心原因之一。 認知障礙正在飆升，看不到盡頭：
Brain Rot: A Real Neurocognitive Syndrome
The study shows a clear, repeatable pattern: excessive digital exposure to low-quality content degrades working memory, sustained attention, executive function, problem-solving, and emotional regulation. Constant notifications and rapid content switching impair information holding and focus, while overstimulation weakens planning, self-control, and cognitive flexibility.
Both doomscrolling’s emotional overload and zombie scrolling’s emotional emptiness destabilize the central nervous system, producing a more rigid, impulsive, and cognitively inefficient brain. Adolescents exhibit the most severe deficits, underscoring the risk of long-term impact.
The evidence confirms brain rot is real, emerging early, accelerating quickly, and consuming a generation.
This is one of the core reasons why cognitive disability is now a public health concern in the United States. Cognitive impairment is skyrocketing with no end in sight:
隨著人工智慧產生的「大腦腐爛」內容開始急劇擴散，成年前廣泛的認知能力下降可能很快就會成為常態。
Widespread cognitive decline before adulthood may soon become the norm as AI-generated “brain rot” content begins to drastically proliferate.