Yenny Yusra Journal

Lately I’ve been noticing a new trend creeping into my mom’s Instagram and YouTube feed. It’s something people have started calling AI Slop. In simple terms, it refers to pictures and videos generated by AI that look flashy and over the top, created mostly for entertainment without caring whether anything in them is real.

My mom is in her 70s and loves watching reels. Most of the time it’s harmless fun, but recently her feed has been filled with this kind of AI-generated content. She gets excited and shares the clips with me, thinking they’re real moments. Because I’m already familiar with AI Slop, I can spot it right away and explain to her that the video isn’t real. It’s not malicious, it’s just made to attract attention.

What worries me is that if my mom is falling for it, many others are too. There are a lot of people who aren’t used to checking whether something online is real or generated. And when AI Slop spreads without context or fact checking, it becomes a perfect recipe for misinformation.

I’m lucky because I spend a lot of time with my mom, so when she shares something questionable, I can immediately point out that it’s AI-generated. But not everyone has someone beside them to help filter what they see online. A whole group of people might end up trusting images or videos that never actually happened.

AI as a tool isn’t the issue. The real risk appears when people can’t tell the difference between a genuine moment and something the algorithm invented purely for clicks. It’s a reminder that we need to pay just a little more attention before we share things, especially when they trigger strong emotions.

For now, I’ll keep an eye on my mom’s feed and keep guiding her gently. But this trend shows just how important digital awareness has become. The line between real and fabricated content is getting thinner, and everybody, especially older internet users, deserves the skills to navigate that world safely.