Brainrot isn’t new.

Ah yes, the 2010s. I remember the fond days of sitting in my turquoise painted room, playing Pokemon: Black and White while itching at the rash on my neck from my elastic choker. Looking back, life was so much simpler, and- Okay, what is that horrendous sound?! Ah, it’s the Skibidi Toilet Rizz Rap™. 

Let me be clear- the brainrot of this new generation is awful. I feel like a geriatric trying to understand these new “terms” if you can even call them that. If I hear one more “why are you gooning like a skibidi omega” I’m going to lose my shit. However, I believe that as we move into the dark ages of the internet, we have to understand that there has always been brainrot in every generation, and us 2000’s babies are not left out of this. 

For starters, the entirety of the 2010’s is the definition of maximalism. Between the Polly Pockets, Eos lip balms, Shopkins, and Sillybands, we were on the road to becoming the new stars of My Strange Addiction. This idea can be seen especially in the layering of clothes. Tell me why the Hannah Montana characters are wearing 3 pairs of pants and 2 jackets at once?!  And don’t even get me started on the color pallets. If you like getting blinded by neon pink, orange, and blue, the 2010s is perfect for you (Try staring at the iCarly or Victorious titles… doctors say it causes blindness after 2 hours). All of these oversaturated, overstimulating things were so normal to us. And in my (professional) opinion, that is what we are seeing in this new generation.

Some smart person somewhere once said that all life is just imitation, and this is EXACTLY what brainrot of all generations follow. Just look at Subway Surfers. What did we used to have before that? Temple Run. Bluey? Literally just a dog version of Backyardigans. And all of this Roblox this, Roblox that, Poptropica and Moviestar Planet literally made the mold. 

So before you go steamrolling some rando 13 year old on twitter for saying “gyatt 1000”, think about the time when you once were a “smol bean Belieber”.