“It is killing me hearing skibidi every second – please find a way to get rid of brain rot. If you find this, please find a way to stop brainrot, save our kids.”
Recently, a Semaphore local was strolling along the beach when she came across a message in a bottle. Upon opening it, however, rather than finding a plea from someone stranded on a desert island or a heartfelt note from decades past, she discovered a very different kind of SOS.
“Dear future the year is 2025 kids are saying brainrot words a lot please, but I am the only kid who is not saying brainrot words,” the note begins.
Written in 2025, the message reveals the frustrations of a young Dominic, who was apparently feeling a little lost in a sea of “skibidis”, “6-7s” and other internet-inspired slang that had taken over schoolyards.
After a little investigating, we tracked down the note’s author. Now 13 years old and a Year 7 student at Woodville High School, Dominic told Glam Adelaide he wrote the message when he was in Year 6, at the height of the brain-rot craze.
“Lots of kids were using brain-rot words and jumbled English and numbers,” he said. “I wanted it to stop.”
Determined to make his feelings known, Dominic enlisted his father to help launch the bottle from Largs Pier. While his dad admits he wasn’t entirely convinced by the environmental merits of tossing a bottle into the ocean, he agreed to the mission, and fortunately the bottle was recovered just a few days later.
“It was a good father-and-son day out,” his father said.
When Dominic learnt that his anti-brain-rot message had finally been discovered, he said he felt both “happy and surprised”.
With his first campaign now complete, we asked Dominic what changes he would make if he were elected Prime Minister of Kids for a day.
His campaign is simple: “Pupil-free day, free lollies for all kids and no set bedtime or curfew on the day of my inauguration. And free break-dancing lessons for everyone.”
Yet, while Dominic says he has no immediate plans to launch another message in a bottle, Adelaide beachgoers may want to keep an eye out just in case. For now, at least, Dominic can rest easy knowing his plea to “save our kids” has finally been heard.
