The article unironically explains where the term originated:

>The term has gone viral on TikTok, where videos marked with the hashtag #monkmode now have more than 77 million views, up from 31 million in May.

I was talking about the definition, the parent commenter's definition at that, not the origin.

I'm not sure how that information fits in here, sorry.

The authoritive BBC are saying in short "your peers will call you a monk if you switch off" - they are branding those who choose to ignore media. I don't care where they say it came from, they are perpetuating it. (Also seems disrespectful to actual monks? I don't know)