Do you get a weird feeling after hours of scrolling through social media apps consuming mind-numbing content? If yes, then there is a term to describe it, “mental disorder”.
The term, brain rot, has been chosen by Oxford University Press as the word of the year for 2024.
More than 37,000 people took part in choosing the word by public vote from a shortlist of six words created by Oxford University Press.
Mental retardation is defined as “a presumed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially one that is mild or unchallenging.” seen as the result of overconsumption of perceived content (now especially online content)”.
According to Oxford University Press, the term brain rot gained prominence this year as the term is used specifically to describe the effects of consuming “excessive amounts of low-quality online content” on social media.
The newly added word grew 230 percent in usage between 2023 and 2024.
However, its first recorded use was in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden.
Kasper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages, said: “Brain disorder speaks to one of the dangers of virtual life, and how we spend our free time. It’s about humanity and technology. Feels like the right next chapter in the cultural conversation. It’s no wonder so many voters embraced the term, and endorsed it as our favorite this year.
“I also find it interesting that the term brainroot has been adopted by gen Z and gen Alpha, the communities largely responsible for the consumption and creation of digital content that the term refers to.”
What were the other five words?
- Demure: of a person: reserved or restrained in appearance or behavior. Clothing: Not revealing or overly revealing.
- Dynamic Pricing: The practice of varying the price of a product or service to reflect changing market conditions
- Lore: A collection of facts and background information about something else
- Romanticism: A genre of fiction that includes elements of romantic fiction and fantasy.
- Slop: Art, writing, or other content created using artificial intelligence