The term Brain rot means “consuming nonsensical content that harms a person” — and yes, scrolling through social media feeds every evening somewhat resembles this process.
The publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary announced the main word of the year 2024 — and it is Brain rot, which literally means “brain decay”. In the authors’ understanding of the dictionary, this process is defined as “a predicted deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, in the process of excessive consumption of content”.
“Brain rot” outperformed competitors in the ranking of the most popular words, such as “dynamic pricing”, “lore” (traditions or knowledge), “romantasy” (a combination of romance and fantasy), “slop” (something like slop, but actually very close to “brain rot”, as the word in 2024 was used to denote the spread of AI content on social networks) and “demure” (restrained, modest).
“Brain rot signifies one of the predicted dangers of virtual life and how we use our free time,” says Casper Gratwol, president of Oxford Languages. “It seems to be the next chapter in the cultural conversation about humanity and technology.”
According to the press release, the term “brain rot” was first used in the book “Walden, or Life in the Woods” by Henry David Thoreau, published in 1854.
“While England tries to cure the rot of potatoes, does it even attempt to cure the brain rot, which is far more widespread and fatal?” Thoreau wrote in his treatise on transcendentalism
Meanwhile, thanks to zoomers, and now the Alpha generation
“These communities have amplified expression through social media channels, the very place that is said to cause ‘brain rot,'” says Gratwol. “It demonstrates a somewhat audacious awareness by the younger generations of the harmful impact of social networks they have inherited.”
Recall that last year, the publishers of the Oxford Dictionary recognized the word of the year as “rizz” (an abbreviation of the popular among zoomers word “charisma”), in 2022 — “goblin mode” (lazy, sloppy, or greedy behavior), and in 2021 — “vax” (given the calls for vaccination amid the COVID-19 pandemic).