Making sense of nonsense: a qualitative study on how low-quality content serves Generation Z’s media needs

Abstract

Brainrot refers to low-quality content saturating digital spaces and the cognitive deterioration resulting from consuming it. Through semi-structured interviews with 24 participants aged 13-26, this study examines the functions that brainrot serves for Gen Z. Users report that brainrot facilitates aesthetic experience through deliberate absurdity, enables resistance to attention economy exploitation, supports generational in-group formation, and provides escapism from digital oversaturation. Importantly, the findings suggest that social media infrastructure, coupled with the spread of GenAI tools, induce mental states of brainrot which precede and shape content creation, rather than consumption of brainrot content causing cognitive decline. Gen Z uses brainrot as a subversive strategy to reclaim agency within oversaturated media environments, challenging deficit-based framings of digital youth culture. This study therefore introduces the concept of anti-gratification - a previously untheorized media need where users actively seek content that rejects productivity and meaning-making.