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England’s prestigious Oxford University has found its word of the year for 2024 – and it is, fittingly, “brain rot”.
The word was chosen from a shortlist of six, which also included “modest”, “dynamic pricing”, “knowledge”, “romance” and “slop”.
More than 37,000 people voted in a two-week period.
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The university defined “brain rot” as “an alleged deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially as a result of excessive consumption of material (now especially online content) that is considered trivial or gratuitous.
Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration.”
The university revealed that the first recorded use of “brain rot” was in 1854 in a book by Henry David Thoreau Waldenin which the author presents his experience of naked life in nature.
“While England is endeavoring to cure the rot of the potato, will no one endeavor to cure the rot of the brain—which prevails far more widely and fatally?” Walden wrote.
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In the digital age, the term has come to broadly denote the impact of consuming massive amounts of online content, especially on social media.
Oxford University found that use of the term increased by 230 percent between 2023 and 2024.
“Looking back at the Oxford Word of the Year over the past two decades, you can see society’s growing preoccupation with how our virtual lives are evolving, the way internet culture permeates so much of who we are and what we say,” Oxford Languages Chair Casper Grathwohl said.
“Last year’s winning word, ‘rizz’, was an interesting example of how language is increasingly formed, shaped and shared within online communities.”
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Increased use of “brain rot” has also taken off online, especially among Generation Z and Generation Alpha users of social media such as TikTok.
“‘Brain Rot’ is about one of the perceived dangers of virtual life and how we use our free time,” Grathwohl said.
“It feels like the real next chapter in the cultural conversation about humanity and technology.
“It’s no surprise that so many voters embraced the term, supporting it as our choice this year.”
Grathwohl also said he was “fascinated” by the term’s adoption by younger internet users, given that their online communities are the main creators of content referred to as “brain rot”.
“It shows a somewhat cheeky self-awareness among the younger generations about the harmful influence of the social media they’ve inherited,” he said.
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