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Thoughts from a Bookoni

Tag: information communities

Brainrot: The Wild Card of Stories

May 2, 2025 / / 2 Comments

Stories are powerful. We use them for marketing. We tell  them during interviews. We use them to pass knowledge and disseminate histories. The oral tradition is as old humans. Stories bind us. Stories break us. Stories reform us. Stories connect us. What happens though when the internet, social media platforms, and AI are used to tell the stories, shape the tales, and curate content?  Are these memes, reels, sounds, and clips have the same power as the longform story or our human books?

Not too long ago, I would have said, “Nope. Not possible.” I would like to make the case for “brain rot” (or “brainrot” depending on which side of the pond and which online community you choose to align with). Oxford University Press named “brain rot” as the 2024 Word of the Year and defines it 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.” This year, my REPAIR Lab students have taught me that brainrot can be a shortform story capable of engaging and connecting others.

We developed a new rhythm in the REPAIR Lab this year. The deal is I tell them my travel stories, fun phrases in other languages, and “real” vocabulary. (Today’s vocabulary word of the day was “preempt”.)  In return, they share their stories and teach me brainrot. To this purpose, we made a Brainrot Box in the REPAIR Lab. They drop in any thing they think I should know or will most likely hear.

A box labelled "brainrot box" next to loose scraps of paper with handwritten notes.

Some contents of the Brainrot Box. (Photo by @bookoni)

Today, stories flew about people’s encounters with the “Tralalero tralala” meme. If “Tralalero tralala” sounds like gibberish to you, you are absolutely correct. It is pure gibberish. It is part of a trending wave of AI-generated Italian brainrot that has been spreading across TikTok this spring.

a gray and white shark wearing blue Nike sneakers on a beach with waves crashing in the background.

Tralalero Tralala shark meme. Image from Know Your Meme.

These absurd AI-generated animal mashups against a background of gibberish-sounding music is completely pointless and nonsensical. I find them to be utterly incomprehensible creatures worthy of the boggart banishing spell “Riddikulus” from Harry Potter. To the students, this is just another evolution in brainrot. They all know it is silly,  but appreciate it for its weirdness. This aligns with President of Oxford Languages Casper Grathwohl’s thoughts:

I find it fascinating that the term ‘brain rot’ has been adopted by Gen Z and Gen Alpha, those communities largely responsible for the use and creation of the digital content the term refers to. These communities have amplified the expression through social media channels, the very place said to cause ‘brain rot’. It demonstrates a somewhat cheeky self-awareness in the younger generations about the harmful impact of social media that they’ve inherited.”

Brainrot is a communication wild card. Working with the tail end of millennials and a growing number of Gen Z with their Gen Alpha siblings has my brain colliding against decades of internet lore that I never heard of. I’ve lived abroad and in areas without internet. My students are always shocked with how little I know about online worlds.  To them, the internet has always been there. It is easy to reference something because it is all online. They all have access to all the background needed to process shortform content quickly, so the longform story I am familiar with is unnecessary for them. They have community in shared internet lore and the self-awareness to know “how dumb” (their words) brainrot is. So when they talk about memes, sounds, reels, vines (it still shows up in conversation as a precursor to newer trends even though it is obsolete), and videos, they are sharing their stories and thoughts through these shortform formats. Brainrot and its associated backstories and spin-offs become the bridges that connect our very different styles. It is a powerful and engaging format.

 

 

Resources

Oxford University Press. (2024 December 2). ‘Brain rot’ named Oxford Word of the Year 2024. https://corp.oup.com/news/brain-rot-named-oxford-word-of-the-year-2024/

Fandom Movies Community.  (n.d.). Harry Potter Wiki: Boggart-banishing spell.  https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Boggart-Banishing_Spell

Literally Media Ltd. (2025 April). What does the ‘Tralalero Tralala’ meme mean? The origins of the Italian Brainrot TikTok trend featuring a shark wearing Nikes explained. Know Your Meme. [KYM]. https://knowyourmeme.com/editorials/guides/what-does-the-tralalero-tralala-meme-mean-the-origins-of-the-italian-brainrot-tiktok-trend-featuring-a-shark-wearing-nikes-explained#

 

Side view of iPhone 6 on a white background.

Digital Divide: Working on Connection

March 4, 2025 / / 2 Comments

I own an iPhone 6s and an iPad Mini 2. The devices themselves are still functioning well, but I have begun to hit device obsolescence. The updated apps for these devices now require an operating system that Apple has not made (and most likely will not make). In my paycheck-to-paycheck existence, things like phone upgrades were deprioritized in favor of a means to work. Despite being gainfully employed, I am part of the community of people who cannot afford better tech. Our modern world requires a base understanding of technology and online interactions, but what if there is a lack of usable technology, insufficient funds, limited accessibility, and inadequate skills? Jessamyn West’s article “21st Century Digital Divide” points out that digital divides still exist and for every step forward there is also backsliding in the margins.

Despite my older tech, I can operate in this hyperlinked world because of work benefits that allow me to have a laptop and use of institutional licensed software. I also know a lot about free library services in my area, so I am an avid user of various libraries’ tech lending program, free computer time, and free 10 pages of printing. Free printing is a blessing for those who need a résumé to present at a job interview or for that senior who has a free flip phone that does not allow them to access their insurance card. It is quite easy for these groups in the margin to be forgotten because they do not usually visit the library. The elders of my temple community who live with other seniors have language and physical issues is another example. Even when told of free services, they will ask everyone within the temple community first. Libraries do not rank in their minds as legitimate sources of information assistance because 1) the libraries they grew up with are not like those in the U.S. and 2) they do not want to look inadequate in front of strangers. So, in this case, the digital divide can only be lessened by increasing the skills and experience of one more person in the group.

How can libraries help?  Community networks that boost WIFI are proliferating. LA County Libraries are also helping to bridge some of that digital divide by providing unlimited free WIFI beyond their walls with their Park and Connect initiative. The greater availability of internet access is useful, but it also increases the use of “convenient” online tools. Many of us upload and download files with ease, but there are those who find this difficult to do especially on jargon-filled websites (e.g. Social Security Association, Department of Motor Vehicles, and medical sites). For the seniors at temple, having to initiate a Real ID process by creating an account and uploading supporting documents was a struggle. They sought assistance from monks at the temple and then taught each other.

Since groups like this seek information and assistance from within their language or regional group, it may be useful for libraries to outreach to those cultural institutions that assist non-English speaking or less abled community members. It may also be possible to offer to host some of the cultural institution’s programs at the library.  For example, the monk who teaches a computer basics class at the temple where space and computers are limited could hold the same program at the library with more people. Technology keeps changing. Some of it makes work and life easier and some harder. For a surety, the digital divide still exists. It will take continuous effort on the library’s part to make sure that available technologies continue to provide benefits to the library’s various communities.

 

References

LA County Library. (n.d.). Free Wi-Fi. https://lacountylibrary.org/wifi/

West, J. (n.d.). 21st Century Digital Divide. https://www.librarian.net/talks/rlc14/

Williams, A. & Muller, C. (2021, March 17). Libraries Are Bridging the Digital Divide. https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2021/03/libraries-are-bridging-the-digital-divide/

 

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