Oxford, England: Oxford’s Word of the Year for 2024 is “brain rot,” reflecting growing concerns about the mental effects of excessive social media use and mind-numbing online content.
The term, which refers to the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental state due to consuming trivial or unchallenging material, gained prominence this year as a way to describe the negative impact of low-quality content, particularly on social media platforms.
More than 37,000 people voted to select the word from a shortlist of six, drawn up by Oxford University Press, the publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary.
“Brain rot” was first used by Henry David Thoreau in his 1854 book Walden, but it has taken on new significance in 2024 as it captures the growing anxiety over the time spent consuming online content that many see as mentally harmful.
Casper Grathwohl, Oxford Languages president, stated that the term highlights concern about how free time is spent in a virtual world, reflecting wider cultural debates around technology’s influence on humanity.
And the official 2024 Oxford Word of the Year is… Brain rot 📱🧠 #OxfordWOTY pic.twitter.com/ePgpL28p9H
— Oxford University Press (@OxUniPress) December 2, 2024
Interestingly, the term has resonated particularly with Gen Z and Gen Alpha, who are often both creators and consumers of the digital content it critiques.
Other shortlisted words included “demure,” “dynamic pricing,” “lore,” “romantasy,” and “slop,” a term for low-quality AI-generated content.
On the other side of the Oxbridge divide, Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2024 was “Manifest.” This term refers to a wellness trend where individuals visualize achieving their goals in the belief that it will increase the likelihood of success.
Previous winners of the Oxford prize have included “rizz,” “goblin mode,” and “vax.” Meanwhile, Dictionary.com have announced their own word of the year, with “demure,” reflecting similar social media trends.
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