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Malaysian bookshop hits on novel idea to bring back readers addicted to ‘brain rot’ clips

“You don’t even have to look for it,” nine-year-old Anaqi said of the short videos he watches online. “It just shows up automatically, and it’s…

By Samantha Johnson / April 4, 2026

“You don’t even have to look for it,” nine-year-old Anaqi said of the short videos he watches online. “It just shows up automatically, and it’s super interesting.”

That instinctive pull is familiar to his father, Firdaus Omar. The 39-year-old Malaysian civil servant said his two children – Anaqi and his six-year-old brother – could spend hours watching the kind of short, noisy, endlessly recommended clips now commonly dismissed online as “brain rot”.

He is worried about the effect of such content as too much of what the boys watch is “nonsense” that is not meant for children.

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Their attention span and language skills also appear to have deteriorated since watching them. “If they watch for too long, they struggle to focus,” he said.

He has also noticed problems with fine motor skills. “Writing becomes difficult. Even lifting heavier things becomes difficult.”

BookXcess’ “Brain Un-Rot Library” is a series of social media content featuring 100 of the world’s best loved books. Photo: Handout
BookXcess’ “Brain Un-Rot Library” is a series of social media content featuring 100 of the world’s best loved books. Photo: Handout

In 2024, Oxford University Press named “brain rot” its word of the year, defining it as the supposed mental or intellectual decline linked to overconsumption of trivial or unchallenging online content.

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