In a world where digital content and social media are becoming more dominant, Oxford University Press has selected « brain rot » as its Word of the Year for 2024. A term that has experienced an impressive 230 percent spike in usage from 2023 to 2024, this is an emerging term that describes the growing concerns about the consequences of consuming low-quality online content.
Oxford University defines brain rot as “the alleged deterioration of a person’s brain or intelligence resulting from consuming too much material (currently exclusively online), especially that which is considered unimportant or inappropriate. ” These points highlight common concerns, particularly among younger people, about the possible negative impact of a more digital way of life.
But the term ‘brain rot’ is not a term of the digital age. In fact, it’s an quite old term. The term first shows up in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau’s book « Walden ». Thoreau criticized society’s preference for favoring simple ideas over complex ones and saw this as a sign of declining intelligence. But however, the term, has acquired new meaning in our modern, hyper connected world.
The rise of brain rot in social media
« Brain rot » is mostly used in recent years, on social media, sepcifically between Gen Z and Gen Alpha communities. It is typically used to refer to the consumption of ‘bad’ content that which is deemed low quality or intellectually unchallenging. This can be anything from viral video series to memes, and other forms of on-line entertainment that are sometimes criticised for their lack of substance.
Actually the concept of brain rot and doomscrolling are very related. Doomscrolling refers to the act of scrolling through bad news, even if it’s sad, disheartening or depressing. This particular behavior (which was rampant during the COVID-19 pandemic) is considered an example of brain rot in action. Users are in a loop of consuming content that might be bad for their mental health, but are unable to get out of this loop. Brain rot is a term that people use to describe this sort of potentially harmful online behavior, as a sort of self aware acknowledgement of this behavior.
The brain rot phenomenon
While the term « brain rot » is often used casually, but it has sparked a bigger conversation about how online content might harm mental health and wisdom. Some psychologists are now giving advice on how to spot and prevent « mental illnesses.” But it’s important to note that there’s currently no clear scientific evidence supporting the idea that digital content consumption is detrimental to the intelligent. Researchers like Poppy Watson of the University of New South Wales have noted that if digital content consumption really does harm the brain, we’d see a drop in average IQ scores between pre-internet and post-internet generations, but that hasn’t been the case.
The future of brain rot
The word of the year for 2024, Oxford’s choice of “brain rot,” is a reflection of people’s worries about how our virtual lives are developing and how online culture is seeping into every aspect of our lives. It follows previous choices that also touched on online culture and behavior, such as 2023’s “rizz” and 2022’s “goblin mode”. As we move through the digital maze of our time, the idea of ‘brain rot’ reminds us to take care with how we use the internet. While it’s unlikely that occasional indulgence in lighthearted online content will cause actual cognitive decline, the term encourages us to consider the quality and variety of the content we consume.
In short, “brain rot” that sums up society’s concerns about the digital world and the use of our free time. This encourages us to consider the balance between entertainment and intellectual stimulation in online activities. As we move forward, it will be interesting to see how the term and the concerns it expresses evolve as our digital environment changes.
