Brain Rot, Black Boxes, and the Teen Algorithm Trap
“You are not just what you click on. You are what everyone around you clicks on too.” — Prianka Srinivasan, ABC News
In a world where an app can know your crush, your cravings, and your cultural roots—before you do—it’s time to ask: what exactly are these platforms learning about our teens? Australian independent journalist Prianka Srinivasan recently pulled back the curtain on Instagram’s algorithm in a chilling six-week experiment. Using a fake identity and a burner phone, she watched a seemingly neutral account become a hyper-personalised, sometimes disturbing mirror of identity—one shaped not only by her own behaviour but by the people she simply stood near.
Welcome to the age of associative logic. This isn’t just about “likes.” It’s about ambient data collection, where proximity, scroll speed, and digital echo of your friends’ behaviours help the algorithm sketch you more accurately than you could describe yourself.
And worse: it learns what keeps you watching, even if it’s harmful. Especially if it’s harmful.
Why This Should Terrify Us — Especially For Teens
Social media platforms are no longer passive tools—they're hyper-adaptive systems designed to maximise engagement. As Prianka reveals, they aren’t just reflecting who you are… they are shaping the user. Her experiment revealed how fast a blank profile could evolve from neutral to ideologically radical, sexualised, or emotionally manipulated—all within hours or days.
These “black box” algorithms are so complex that even their own developers can’t fully explain how they work. But one thing’s certain: they’re not optimised for mental health. They’re optimised for attention. And young people—still developing cognitively and emotionally—are the perfect test subjects.
This is not science fiction. It’s an unregulated global experiment running in real time. And it’s turning childhood into a monetisable stream of dopamine loops.
Enter Brain Rot!—Edufiction Fighting Back
That’s why I wrote Brain Rot!
It’s not just a story—it’s an edufictional intervention.
In this novella, we follow Team Savv-i—sharp-witted teens who begin to notice something’s off about their classmates. The culprit? A new app called Zipp, which uses corrupted AI architecture to subtly erode memory, attention, and emotional autonomy.
The twist? The algorithm isn’t just tracking users. It’s shaping them—just like in Prianka’s real-world investigation. It nudges creators toward harmful loops. It feeds influencers addictive validation. And it hunts down the outliers who still question the system.
But unlike in real life, my characters fight back.
Through action, collaboration, and digital self-awareness, the Team begins to see through the fog—reconnecting with real-world experiences and defending their autonomy in an algorithmic battlefield.
The story mirrors Prianka’s findings nearly beat-for-beat:
Scroll behaviour affects identity? Check.
Location and proximity data influence content? Absolutely.
AI clustering leads to unexpected, even harmful content? Every time.
Getting out of the loop requires massive conscious effort? That’s the core of the plot.
Brain Rot! is fiction—but it’s grounded in algorithmic fact.
Why Edufiction Works
Edufiction doesn’t preach. It provokes.
By embedding real-world dangers into character-driven narratives, stories like Brain Rot! allow young people to see themselves in the situation. Instead of being told “don’t scroll too much,” they watch as characters like Beam and Mia ‘slowly’ lose their sense of reality—not because they’re weak, but because they’re targeted. And because of that, readers aren’t just absorbing content. They’re building resiliance.
What Teens Can Do (Starting Today)
If you're a young reader (or raising or teaching one), here's what Team Savv-i would want you to know:
Curate consciously – Follow accounts that inspire and uplift. Don’t feed the loop.
Mute or block toxic inputs – Algorithms reward your attention, even to content you hate.
Use grayscale mode – Reduce emotional triggers. Color is used to heighten engagement.
Pause before you post – Is it really you sharing this—or the loop shaping your identity?
Find your real-world anchors – Nature, conversation, unfiltered play—these are your firewall.
And if the screen still pulls too hard? Remember Zeno’s warning from Brain Rot!: “Cut the noise. Find the signal.”
Final Thought
The teen brain is not broken.
But it is under siege.
If we want to protect this generation from digital dependency and algorithmic manipulation, we need education that evolves as fast as the tech does. Not just lessons on privacy settings or screen time—but deep literacy in how these systems work and how to resist them.
Because the moment we stop questioning the feed, the feed starts answering for us.
Please, read Prianka Srinivasan’s full investigation: How social media algorithms decide who you are – ABC News and if you are so inclined, explore Brain Rot! and the Education Guide: https://www.casperpieters.com/more-adventures
#DigitalWellbeing #BrainRotBook #Edufiction #TeenMentalHealth #AlgorithmicAwareness #ProtectYoungMinds #CutTheNoise #FindTheSignal
