Brain rot
Cognitive decomposition as a structural externality of attention assetization
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19224359 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hera Hyeonseo Lee (0009-0005-9503-5939, Binghamton University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-05-24 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New Media & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1461-4448 • E-ISSN: 1461-7315 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/14614448261448834 |
| OpenAlex | W7162265116 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 33 |
While brain rot has entered the popular lexicon as a marker of cultural-intellectual decline, this article theorizes it as a systemic condition of late-capitalist survival. Integrating world-systems analysis with the critique of the attention economy, I argue that cognition has emerged as the new frontier of intensive accumulation. As material expansion shifts toward cognitive extraction within the post-2008 conjuncture, platforms assetize attention to stabilize speculative valuation. This induces a biopolitical rewiring that functionally degrades the capacity for sustained thought. This systemic brain rot is analyzed through its class-stratified distribution and institutional collision within the university, where deep learning confronts the high-frequency logic of extraction. Ultimately, this mutagenic mode of accumulation consumes capitalism’s social and cognitive foundations, necessitating a shift from therapeutic self-management toward the political contestation of attentional regimes through structural alternatives like engagement metric caps and public digital infrastructures
Cognition · Decomposition · Default mode network · Externality · Frontier · Lexicon · Metric (unit) · Politics · Public good · Digital Education and Society · Digital Media and Philosophy · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism
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A Geology of Media
Big Data in Education
The Slow Professor
The Provoked Economy
Behind the Screen
World-Systems Analysis
Algorithms of Oppression
Hyper and Deep Attention
Increased Rates of Mental Health Service Utilization by U.S. College Students
The Attention economy
The Relevance of Algorithms
Deep Neural Networks for YouTube Recommendations
Brain Drain
Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital
The Subject and Power
Digital labour and development
Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies
Social Acceleration
The cultural work of microwork
Want to be on the top? Algorithmic power and the threat of invisibility on Facebook
Uberland
Stand out of our Light
Rethinking Value in the Bio-economy
Platform capitalism
Captivating algorithms
The Political Economy of Attention
| Highly cited | No |
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