From Brain Rot To Podcast Marathons

How is brain rot playing into politics?

It seems like Kamala Harris‘ presidential campaign is diving into a world where overstimulation is the name of the game.
And, what’s the hook?
Trying to reach that ever-distracted, always-scrolling audience by running content that mirrors one style of viral TikTok videos – a format sometimes affectionately called content sludge.
You know the kind, where one part of the screen shows your main content, and below, you’ve got something random like a satisfying video of art being created or someone playing a video game, just to keep your eyes entertained.

But here’s the big question:

Are we really catering to the audience, or just conceding defeat to short attention spans?
It’s not that the Harris campaign is poking fun at voters or assuming they have “brain rot.”

Nope, this is about adaptation.

The reality is, people consume content differently now, especially younger generations raised on bite-sized entertainment.
So, what do you do when you’re a politician trying to break through all the noise?
You meet them where they are – in a world where the more overstimulation, the better.

Still, it does feel a bit dystopian.

Is this where we’ve ended up?
Are we all so attention-starved that politicians have to pair their campaign messages with something else entirely, just to keep us watching?
Maybe the real fix isn’t in the marketing strategy but figuring out how we ended up here in the first place?
On the flip side, when we look at the Donald Trump campaign, they are leaning hard into long-form content.
Trump isn’t shy about hitting up multi-hour podcast marathons with Theo Von, Lex Fridman and Sean Ryan.

Is it all about brain rot, or can people handle deep dives too?

The truth is, audiences seem to toggle between both worlds.
As I always say: Everything is ‘with’ not ‘instead of’.
TikTok clips on one hand, three-hour podcasts on the other.

Does this mean we’re both distracted and engaged at the same time?

And here’s the kicker: Both tactics seem to work.
But are these two extremes pushing us to question whether we’re really connected with the messages we’re hearing – or just entertained by them?

This is what Elias Makos, and I discussed on CJAD 800 AM. Listen in right here.

https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1913771153

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