Teachers hate it, but kids love it: the psychology behind the “6-7” slang craze from TikTok

Kids are shouting “six-seven” everywhere, driving teachers mad and confusing adults, but the viral slang says more about Gen Alpha’s humor than it seems.

If you’re a teacher and you’re hearing students blabbing out “six-seven,” then I feel sorry for you. I babysat some kids last weekend, and all they wanted to do was watch brainrot and shout out stupid phrases. You’d think shouting it out at school would be enough, but clearly not.

The phrase apparently came from rapper Skrilla's song “Doot Doot” and then spread through NBA memes and TikTok videos.

It’s a ritualistic call-and-response that older generations are left grappling with, so we spoke to an expert to get the lowdown on the how and why.

Dr. Debra Kissen, clinical psychologist and CEO of Light On Anxiety Treatment Center, explains, “What’s funnier than absurdity, especially when no adult has any idea what you’re talking about?”

She also points out a shared language that separates kids from authorities. “It’s social glue through nonsense.”

When I was in school, we would sing absurd chants in the playground, now unpublishable, but certainly absurd. We’d giggle, we’d goof, we were giddy.

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This is no different. While it's annoying in and of itself, there’s no point in wrestling with the meaning, as that’s exactly what they want.

Take a look at this video from British comedy Monty Python, published in 1969. Isn’t this brainrot too? Sure, it might be funnier than “six-seven,” but even back then, we laughed at outrageousness.

Bringing it back to the present, Kissen seems to think that Gen Alpha – those born roughly after 2010 – simply needs a breather from complexity:

“This kind of humor, often labeled ‘brain rot,’ is really about reclaiming playfulness in a world that feels increasingly structured and over-explained.”

Still, though crossing the line is fun, teachers face a dilemma regarding how to punish such insurrection.

A pissed-off math teacher in the US published a video in which she negotiated deducting 67 points for any student who said it.

@slimsadies_ I know teachers EVERYWHERE feel my pain. But idk being a math teacher I feel like it’s 10x worse for us 😭 I just couldn’t take it anymore! #brainrot #teacherlife #classroommanagement #mathteacher #elementaryschool ♬ original sound - slimsadies_

“Teachers struggle with these viral in-jokes because they spread faster than any rulebook can keep up with,” explained Kissen.

And when we often whine that the younger kids are entrenched in their phones, it seems that they’ve finally found a sense of camaraderie, as Kissen highlights:

“If anything, this tells us that the next generation’s communication style will be even more visual, surreal, and community-driven.”