You guys think Oxford choosing “brain rot” as Word of The Year is shade or…?
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From TikTok addiction to stan Twitter obsession, people have transformed social media into a whole different realm—and all sorts of things are happening to our brains and behaviors as a result. Oxford University Press’ Word of the Year 2024 being brain rot confers the relevance and importance of how technology and media have a massive impact on life, language, humanity, society, and culture—and is perhaps a sign we should stop scrolling and touch some grass.
Brain rot is defined as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration”. It’s for sure a buzzword in this current state of society.
Although it’s not just Oxford who made the call arbitrarily—after language experts shortlisted a few words for the distinction, a public voting happened. They stated, “After two weeks of public voting and widespread conversation, our experts came together to consider the public’s input, voting results, and our language data, before declaring ‘brain rot’ as the definitive Word of the Year for 2024.”
THE BRAINS…THEY’RE ROTTING
me understanding tweet is why oxford chose brain rot as word of the year https://t.co/nV8p6XSFjH
— old hot radio (@rxtnxlxrxs) December 4, 2024
Oxford’s experts observed that “brain rot” earned popularity this year as a term “used to capture concerns about the impact of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media.” The term has been used humorously before, with different words paired with it (“Marvel brain rot,” “[insert hot new celebrity here] brain rot,” “[insert ship here] brain rot”). Brain rot is linked to the way we consume “mindless” content and entertainment, like scrolling for hours on TikTok or X or Reels.
Sure, we can whip up a myriad of reasons why being chronically online is beneficial, and they can all be true, but they all could also end up just being excuses to keep scrolling, tapping, typing, and clicking, rotting our brains as a majority of our days are being spent in front of a screen. Maybe we don’t need to know every single microtrend or slang!
Studies have found that the Internet truly is affecting our cognitive processes, with disordered screen use (basically problematic, addiction-like behaviors linked to screen use) having the potential to “negatively impact cognitive abilities,” reducing our memories and attention spans. It affects our capacities to critically think, recall information, solve problems, and make decisions. Brain rot being chosen as this year’s Word of the Year encapsulates the ever-increasing harmful effects of spending far too much time in the digital world—and while we hate sounding like boomers, they might just have a point.
HOW COOKED ARE WE?
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“‘Brain rot’ speaks to one of the perceived dangers of virtual life, and how we are using our free time,” the President of Oxford Languages, Casper Grathwohl, said. “It feels like a rightful next chapter in the cultural conversation about humanity and technology.”
The increasing reliance on artificial inteIligence (and the fact that people with control of the Internet and social media platforms including Google, X, Meta, TikTok, and more are not only not mitigating the rampant spread of its use but actually encouraging it) definitely doesn’t help. From emails to essays, research to art, people are over-relying on AI to do the work, and there’s a whole other discussion to be had about the dangers of AI as it exists today.
The more we rely on AI, the more we stunt our abilities to think and create for ourselves—the more rotted our brains become. What then becomes of humanity? Ever heard of the term AI slop? It’s heartless, low-quality content that’s also dangerous to consume, not only because of brain rot, but because it could be misinformation or disinformation.
Though it’s far too late to stop AI from being embedded in aspects of technology and worming its way into our lives, but it’s not too late to realize that we do not have to—and we cannot—rely on it all the time or perceive it as a replacement for human creation. The same goes for any aspect of the Internet and social media—it can’t just be consumption of mindless content all day, every day, no matter how tempting it may sound.
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Thankfully, the general public seems to be in agreement that we’re pretty self-aware enough to recognize the dangers of brain rot. Just increasing its popularity is awareness of the problem at hand. But what can we do now? Is there even hope?
The future may look bleak, but there are steps we can personally take to combat all this brain rot. First off—just like when it comes to your physical health, everything in moderation. Recognize that maybe you should step away from the screen every now and then. Loosen the hold technology and media have on your life yourself. Life isn’t just about what goes on on the Internet. Doomscrolling can wait another day. That edit of Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero can wait another day. Maybe going offline, touching some grass, and doing something that doesn’t require a screen will do us some good.
Continue Reading: Gaslighting And Goblin Mode Are The Words Of The Year
