Oxford University Press (OUP), the publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary, has named brain rot as the word of the year.
It is defined as deterioration of a person's mental or intellectual state, mainly as the result of overconsumption of material considered to be trivial or unchallenging.
Though the
term brain rot is nearly 170 years old, it is now being used to describe
mindless consumption of low-quality, low-value content found on social media.
Oxford
Languages President Casper Grathwohl said that brain rot in its modern sense,
"speaks to one of the perceived dangers of virtual life, and how we are
using our free time."
With social
media having acquired a vice-like grip over our lives, we end up consuming
excessive amounts of such low-quality online content. A major part of our day
is spent scrolling Instagram, X, Facebook and other social media feeds.
Smartphones
have proved to be a force multiplier in providing access to social media
anytime and almost anywhere. These devices have become so deeply entwined with
lives that it is the first thing we look at after waking up and the last thing
we check before crashing at night.
TS Eliot’s
Prufrock had claimed “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons”. Had
Eliot been alive today, he might have substituted Instagram reels and ‘likes’ for
coffee spoons.
OUP claims
that though the first recorded use of ‘brain rot’ was in Henry David Thoreau’s
Walden, published in 1854, where he attacks people for not making enough mental
and intellectual efforts while interpreting complex ideas.
However, the coinage later fell into obscurity. After
languishing in the wilderness of dictionaries and thesaurus for over a century,
the term has now suddenly gained traction in the digital era.
It has now caught
the fancy of Gen Z and Alpha generations, who grew up amid the social media.
OUP claims the usage of this term increased 230 per cent in its frequency from
2023 to 2024.
Brain rot
beat five other phrases or words on the dictionary publisher's shortlist, namely
demure, lore, slop, romantasy and dynamic pricing. More than 37,000 people
voted to help choose the winner.
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