‘Brain rot’ is the Oxford word of the year. Are you noticing it? Published December 2, 2024. Written by Sean Previl. https://globalnews.ca/news/10897511/2024-oxford-word-of-the-year-brain-rot/
According to the Oxford University Press, the infamous phrase, ‘brain rot' is the most used word of 2024 as of Monday. This represents how social media is gradually molding literature, writing and speaking for future generations. Thoreau (author of the book, Walden) describes the phrase as "[the degrading of] complex ideas in favor of simple ones, calling it indicative of a general decline in mental and intellectual effort." The term ‘brain rot’ expresses different concepts in Gen Alpha slang, which are heavily influenced by social media (i.e. memes, viral videos, trends). Some popular 'brain rot' words are skibidi (something is cool, bad, or dumb), fanum tax (food you steal from your friends" meal/snack), and rizz (short for 'charisma’). Although these terms and slang are rising in popularity by the minute, this only shows how chronically online our generation is. It's quite entertaining to see young people try to explain the slang to their parents or just generally older generations. However, you can really see how media can influence a chunk of your life, especially at a very young age. For example, giving teens their iPad to keep them distracted or not bored causes them to learn new things, but also an addiction to their screens. 'Brain rot’ builds a big part of the internet, which also adds "to one of the perceived dangers of virtual life, and how we are using our free time." As it is said, "brain rot' is as lethal as a toxic chemical that literally takes the majority of the complex ideas in your head, breaks them down and simplifies them to decrease your level of intellect.
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