How I got brain rot: Misinformation-infused podcasts

Neither doomscrolling, nor listening to podcasts are new phenomena. But the concoction of the two is a fairly recent trend.

This year, I found myself increasingly doomscrolling – “constantly scrolling through and reading depressing news on a news site or on social media, especially on a phone”, as the Oxford dictionary explains the term. But it wasn’t the usual content on Twitter (or X, as Elon Musk would insist) or Instagram. It was the world of podcasts.

Podcasts that host credible subject experts can certainly be informative. But much of what I stumble upon nowadays is shoddy content that lacks value – or even truth.

Often, the claims being made on such podcasts by so-called experts are outright misinformation (tips on healthcare or medical treatments, for example) and disinformation (such as about historical or political events).

What is probably worse is that many of these podcasts are further chopped into bite-sized video clips – called reels or shorts – that are even easier to consume. These clips often draw millions of views (I probably added a few more).

Such low-quality podcasts did nothing but contribute to my brain rot. While I would like to believe that I haven’t fallen for the “information” being disseminated on such podcasts, listening to them...

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