"If anything, Gen Z- and Gen Alpha-fueled internet culture has prided itself on somewhat meaningless content like " 6 7" and absurdist, seemingly AI-generated " Italian brain rots," but after nearly a year of memes with little humanity or depth, a backlash has begun. "Because of just how unrecognizable memes have become," TikTok creator Noah Glenn Carter (@noahglenncarter) said in a recent video,"
"When I reach Carter via email, the creator seems pretty convinced the reset idea could take off, and he plans to make more videos promoting it. "The memes we have now are called 'brain rot' for a reason," Carter says. "The ones 10+ [years older], most of the time, had a story behind them. Or they at least made sense. Now it just seems like the more random and incoherent something is the more likely it is to become a meme.""
A TikTok movement labeled the Great Meme Reset of 2026 calls for returning memes to 2010s-era formats on January 1, 2026. The idea traces to a March post by @joebro909 and has spread into hundreds of posts urging a nostalgic reboot. Critics argue recent memes—often called "brain rot" or appearing AI-generated—lack narrative, humanity, and clarity compared with older memes. Creators such as Noah Glenn Carter endorse a reset and plan promotional content. The movement seeks to revive recognizable humor and storytelling in meme culture and to curb increasingly random, incoherent formats.
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