‘Brain rot’ is 2024 Oxford Word of the Year

MANILA, Philippines – The Oxford University Press named “brain rot” as 2024’s Word of the Year, on Monday, December 2, citing how the term captures “concerns about the impact of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media.”

In between 2023 and 2024, usage of the word increased by 230%.

It 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.”

Oxford added the term was first used way back in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden.

Oxford wrote how in the book, “Thoreau criticizes society’s tendency to devalue complex ideas, or those that can be interpreted in multiple ways, in favour of simple ones, and sees this as indicative of a general decline in mental and intellectual effort: ‘While England endeavours to cure the potato rot, will not any endeavour to cure the brain-rot – which prevails so much more widely and fatally?’”

Thoreau’s conclusions, though coming from more than a century and a half ago, appear to carry weight still in a modern world where social media, it can be argued, has seemingly exacerbated society’s inclination towards the simple rather than the complex, to base emotions like hatred and rage over rational fact-based thinking.

Oxford said, “The term has taken on new significance in the digital age, especially over the past 12 months. Initially gaining traction on social media platform — particularly on TikTok among Gen Z and Gen Alpha communities — ’brain rot’ is now seeing more widespread use, such as in mainstream journalism, amidst societal concerns about the negative impact of overconsuming online content.”

The university press also mentioned how other popular words associated with the Gen Z such as “skibidi” and “Ohio” are examples of “brain rot language.”

“Brain rot” is “strongly associated with certain types of content — including creator Alexey Gerasimov’s viral Skibidi Toilet video series, featuring humanoid toilets, and user-generated ‘only in Ohio’ memes, which reference bizarre incidents in the state. This content has given rise to emerging ‘brain rot language’ — such as ‘skibidi’, meaning something nonsensical, and ‘Ohio’, meaning something embarrassing or weird — which reflects a growing trend of words originating in viral online culture before spreading offline into the ‘real world.’”

Mental health concerns

There is some mental health concern on brain rot as well, with US mental health group Newport Institute, in a recent report, saying “Consequences of brain rot include difficulty organizing information, solving problems, making decisions, and recalling information.”

It advised: “To prevent or reduce brain rot, try limiting screen time, deleting distracting apps from your phone, and turning off unnecessary notifications.”

It also considered “doomscrolling” as a behavior wherein one endlessly scrolls on social media and websites to find distressing news or negative content, which can contribute to brain rot.

Oxford also explained why they choose a Word of the Year: “Every year, our experts debate candidates for our word of the year and decide on words which reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of a particular year, and which have potential to provide a snapshot of social history through language.” The committee selects a winner through a process involving language experts, public input and voting, and available data.

Previous Word of the Year winners are “rizz” (2023); “goblin mode” (2022); “vax” (2021); and “Black Lives Matter,” “Blursday,” “coronavirus,” “lockdown,” “social distancing” and “systemic racism” (2020). – Rappler.com