The Brain Rot Phenomenon in TikTok Usage and Its Impact on Students Critical Thinking Skills in Semarang
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12928/commicast.v7i2.17114Keywords:
Brain Rot, Critical thinking, Phenomenon, TiktokAbstract
TikTok's dominance in Indonesia's social media landscape has intensified concern over brain rot, a popularly termed condition associated with cognitive fatigue and diminished analytical capacity linked to excessive short-form video consumption, particularly among university students whose academic work depends on sustained critical thinking. However, how this phenomenon relates to students' critical thinking, and why its apparent effects appear to differ between individuals with similarly high TikTok exposure, remains underexplored in the Indonesian context. This study aims to examine how Semarang university students subjectively experience TikTok-related brain rot and how that experience relates to their information-verification behavior as a dimension of critical thinking. Using a descriptive qualitative approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with 11 purposively selected heavy-viewer informants (TikTok use exceeding four hours daily), triangulated with observation and screen-time data, and analyzed using the Miles and Huberman interactive model within a cultivation-theory framework. Findings indicate that informants' accounts of reduced concentration, superficial information processing, and diminished depth in critical analysis were associated with three recurring factors: purpose of TikTok use, information-verification habits, and engagement in academic activities beyond social media; informants who verified information consistently and remained academically engaged tended to describe less pronounced effects, while those without these habits described more pronounced ones. Based on these patterns, this study proposes a typology of three informant groups, ranging from consistent verifiers to passive recipients who circulate information without cross-checking, offering a more contextual, evidence-grounded basis for designing targeted digital literacy interventions than blanket TikTok-use restrictions.
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