Oxford University Press (OUP) has announced ‘brain rot’ as the word of the year 2024 following a public voting. But what is ‘brain rot’?
It is a term which sums up the widespread concerns over mindless social media habits and the consumption of low-value content, especially on social media.
The word was selected after 37,000 people voted in favour of it.
‘Brian rot’ fought with six other terms to emerge as the winner.
Why ‘brain rot’?
‘Brain rot’ 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”.
OUP said their experts noticed that ‘brain rot’ gained new prominence this year as a term frequently used to capture concerns about the impact of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media.
The term increased in usage frequency by 230% between 2023 and 2024.
When was the word first used?
The first recorded use of ‘brain rot’ was found in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden, which reports his experiences of living a simple lifestyle in the natural world.
As part of his conclusions, 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?”
However, the term has taken on new significance in the digital age, especially over the past 12 months.
Initially gaining traction on social media platforms — 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.
Speaking about this year’s selection process and the 2024 winner, Casper Grathwohl, President of Oxford Languages, said: “It’s been insightful and deeply moving to see language lovers all over the world participate and help us select the Oxford Word of the Year 2024.”
