How bad is what your algorithm is serving you and what does the contagious "brainrot" trend tell us about our desires for emotional numbness, dissociation, and digital lethargy?

On the next symposium organised by Terminally Online — UvA’s Media Studies student organisation — we will consider the brainrot phenomenon as part of a wider structure of feeling that has begun to creep into public spheres and internet vernaculars.

Starting with a guest lecture by r. Tina Kendall from Anglia Ruskin University, we will recognise the toll of always-on connectivity through the ambivalent experiences of social media–induced dissociation and fatigue. Together, we'll discuss what is at stake in framing cognitive impairment, emotional numbness,, and dissociation as desirable, and how this framing intersects with ideas of the human brain in a neoliberal context that emphasises self-optimisation and self-care.

Introducing several unique (artistic) perspectives on brainrot, we will follow with keynote presentations from (PhD) students, alumni, and content creators and finish off with drinks/borrel. For those who cannot make it in person, this event will be live-streamed!

Programme

15:00-16:00: Masterclass by Dr.Tina Kendall (Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK)
16:10-17:30: Presentations and interviews from students, researchers and content creators
17:40-18:10: Panel discussion with Terminally Online and Dr. Jernej Markelj (Media Studies, University of Amsterdam)
18:10-18:45: Closing drinks/borrel

Speakers

Dr. Tina Kendall is associate professor of Film and Media and Director of research students for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, Education and Social Sciences. Her research spans film, media and cultural theory, with a focus on how ambivalent or ‘minor’ affects—boredom, disgust, apathy, exhaustion—shape spectators’ and users’ experiences across film and digital platforms. Grounded in film and cultural studies approaches to embodied, affective engagement, her work examines the continuities between cinematic and networked viewing practices, focusing particularly on how ‘minor’ or negative feelings infuse everyday encounters with moving images. Her recent research addresses internet aesthetics and vibes, brainrot, and generative AI ‘slop’, exploring how users create and circulate moods on platforms like TikTok. She has written extensively on affective, intimate and imitation publics on short-form video, bringing film-theoretical insights about gesture, rhythm and atmospheric aesthetics to bear on platform cultures. Challenging assumptions that boredom or ‘low’ media cultures are marginal, her work positions these as central to power, value and participation in networked life.