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Brain rot, anti-intellectualism, and the miracles of self-education.

“I want to be smart again!” I tell myself as brain rot settles in after an hour of doomscrolling on TikTok. It’s not that I’ve lost my intelligence, but I’m slower, less sharp, and less motivated than I was in my student days.

We live in an age of conflict. Wars in far away lands, wars with our neighbours, and now more than ever, we’re at war with the digital world. Our attention spans are dying before our eyes, with our discernment and critical thinking hanging on by a thread. Ever since the rise of ‘Fake News’, Trump’s first term as president, and the Covid pandemic, there’s a feeling that society as a collective is getting dumber. Yes, it sounds harsh and perhaps it is. But maybe this is the wake up call we so needed.

Damn you, Brain Rot!

‘Brain rot’ was the 2024 word of the year as announced by the Oxford English Dictionary. It 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 rise in short-form media from platforms like Instagram and TikTok have made it so easy for users to waste away doomscrolling their perfectly curated algorithms. The content we tend to consume is engaging to the eye but not to the brain. It lacks substance. While social media has some positive, redeeming attributes, it has largely taken over our lives and, most importantly, our free time. We read less, we do less hobbies, we learn less. And when we take up a hobby, social media urges you to monetise it. Because if it doesn’t feed the capitalist beast, why should I care for it, right?

The rise in brain rot goes hand in hand with the use of AI and tools such as ChatGPT. The tech boys leading the AI revolution chant gleefully that this is the future. We have the opportunity to rid ourselves of mundane tasks. Such efficiency! But the more we stop using our brain, the more it will decay. As the saying goes, the brain is a muscle. We should be training it and improving it. A recent study by MIT scientists examined the effects of using AI on our brains. The team measured cognitive engagement by looking at the electrical activity in the brain as well as linguistic analysis of the essays. The brain waves of those who used AI were significantly lower and they struggled to recall quotes or information from their essays. The MIT scientists concluded that prolonged use of AI leads to “cognitive debt” (MIT) - a more flourished version of what we’ve come to call brain rot.

This cultural drift towards cognitive passivity and lack of critical thinking is reflected in the political landscape around the world, where far-right movements have gained popularity. After all, both a second Trump presidency and the reality of Brexit were once dismissed as unthinkable.

The orange man doesn’t want you going to university.

The Collins dictionary defines ‘anti-intellectualism’ as ‘a feeling of hostility and dislike towards intellectuals and intellectual activities’. In modern day examples, this can be the distrust of vaccines, viewing climate change as a fake issue, and the belief that the earth is flat. Nevertheless, the history of the word can be traced to Richard Hofstadter’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book ‘Anti-Intellectualism in American Life’ published in 1963.

Hofstadter had observed a growing number of assaults on intellectuals, liberals, and higher education at the hand of Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. These were essentially anti-communist crusades in which McCarthy would claim that “commies” were infiltrating all areas of government. This led Hofstadter to develop his concept of anti-intellectualism which he saw as the “national disrespect of the mind”. His book traces the roots of anti-intellectualism to three forces. Evangelical religion with its dislike for innovation, science and critical thinking. Individualism encouraging practical skills and anti-institutionalism. And hustle culture which reduces human value to wealth and materialism. Together, these currents have shaped the political ideology of American conservatism over the years, as well as much of the Republican Party.

In March 2025, President Donald trump signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education (AlJazeera), therefore fulfilling a campaign promise and long-cherished goal of a number of American conservatives. Since its formation in 1979 by Democratic President Jimmy Carter and Congress, the Department of Education has distributed loans and aid for education, particularly helping low-income university students. President Trump and other outspoken right wing politicians have accused the department of indoctrinating young people with racial, sexual, and political material that are corrupting them. Trump also said that “the US spends more money on education by far than any other country”, yet the department’s budget in 2024 was $238bn which is less than 2% of federal spending (BBC).

Earlier in the year, the US Department of Defence began banning books that didn’t align with President Trump’s executive orders regarding ‘gender ideology’ and ‘racial indoctrination’. Books such as The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky are banned from school and libraries. When it comes to higher education, Trump has made his dislike of such institutions clear, particularly with Columbia University and Harvard, threatening to freeze funding or give away previously awarded grants to trade schools (The Guardian). This has added support to the vilification of humanities and liberal art courses, so-called ‘Mickey Mouse’ degrees.

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.” Dead Poets Society (1989).

The death of our humanities is the death of our humanity.

We are watching our educational systems tilt dramatically toward STEM at the expense of the humanities and liberal arts. Policy after policy promotes science and technology as the future, while history, philosophy, and literature are branded as ‘useless’ or ‘unprofitable’. In the UK, for example, the proportion of students studying humanities subjects has fallen from nearly 28% in 1961/62 to just 8% in 2019/20 (HEPI). English Literature A-level entries have collapsed from around 83,000 in 2013 to just 54,000 in 2023 (The Guardian). The data speaks for itself. Slowly but surely, generations have been guided towards degrees that make sense economically from a capitalist standpoint.

The irony is that while STEM education equips students to innovate, design, and problem-solve, it does not necessarily teach them to ask the deeper questions: What should be built? What are the ethical consequences? Who benefits and who suffers from this technology? Without the humanities, we risk creating a generation that is technically skilled but morally lost and devoid of empathy. A society that values innovation while dismissing ethics and culture is a society that has chosen efficiency over empathy. Progress over humanity. Without the humanities we won’t read critically, we won’t write persuasively, we won’t empathise with the lives of others, and we won’t recognise propaganda even when it is right in front our faces. This is how hate, fascism and authoritarianism eventually wins.

A proposed solution: self-education.

Oh to be strolling around campus in the autumn. The beginning of term, the endless possibilities. Being a student has its hardships but it is also the prime of your brain. A period of life with endless time and resources. Alas, all that is good must come to an end, but that doesn’t mean that our learning should stop there.

Thinking. Actively training our brain. Honing our creativity. This is the only way we can fight the war against our fading intelligence. Not just for ourselves, but for the world. There is no need to go back to school, hire tutors or enrol in online courses. Of course, you are free to do so but self-education doesn’t have to cost much. This is the plan I suggest:

• Read more: While the popularity of BookTok is positive to some extent, let me hold your hand when I say this: you can’t solely read spicy romance novels or non-fiction books. You need to read a variety of genres and equally research a variety of subjects. Only then will you be providing your brain with a balanced feed of information that will deepen your understanding of the world around you.

• Write more: Our ability to put our ideas into writing is essential to our humanity. Write stories, journal, compile your research into notes, write a letter to a friend. Make it as big or as small as you want, but just write. And by the way, don’t just type - write by hand too! The quality of our handwriting is slowly disintegrating with calligraphy being a forgotten art and reading cursive on its way to becoming one too.

• Converse more: Human interactions are often based around gossip and catch ups that simply list the latest events of your life in a summarised version. While enjoyable and necessary to the fabric of our society, we need to start having more healthy conversations and debates. Not with the aim to fight or divide, but with the aim to listen and understand. Our world is divided enough already, either each man becomes an island or we start working together to rebuild a sense of the collective we’ve lost. So converse with your friends about ideas, mention a piece of media you consumed that sparked your interest and ask them for their thoughts. Alternatively, start watching debates online. Both the Oxford Union and Cambridge Union regularly upload their debates and talks to Youtube. It can be an easy way to learn new arguments and perspectives.

• Indulge in more activities: Book that pottery class. Sketch because you feel like it. Do puzzles and crosswords. Play chest with your partner. These are all activities that will help your brain stay sharp and healthy, while avoiding the hellhole that is doomscrolling on social media or mindlessly watching Netflix.

While this essay primarily discusses anti-intellectualism and the decline of humanities degrees in the US and the UK, these issues affect the entire world. The more we depend on social media dopamine hits and AI, the less equipped we are as a society to resist those who seek to undermine our democracies, distort our belief systems and accumulate wealth at our expense. If you’ve read this far, you are likely a curious mind with a genuine thirst for knowledge. Someone who has begun to recognise the pitfalls of digital overconsumption, extreme political narratives and the dark side of assigning value to subjects solely through a capitalist lens. Reclaiming your brain through self-education and personal research is how we move forward!

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