With Mental Relations, Brain Rot Becomes Word Of The Year 2024 By Oxford, What Does It Mean?

Illustration of children watching content (Freepik/Freepik)

JAKARTA - In this fast-paced digital era, the term "rot brain" or "brain rot" is often used symbolically to illustrate the negative impact of excessive media consumption habits, especially intellectually less challenging content. "Brain rot" has been chosen as Word of The Year or Oxford's Choice Word in 2024.

Reported by VOI from The Guardian's website on Wednesday, December 4, 2024, more than 37,000 people participated in this word election, which came from six selected words compiled by Oxford University Press, which is the publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary. This annual award aims to reflect the growing trends and moods throughout the year.

What Is Brain Rot?

"Brain rot" is defined as a decrease in a person's mental or intellectual state, which is considered a result of excessive consumption of material (especially online content), often feeling trivial or not challenging.

Oxford University Press revealed that this term became increasingly popular in 2024, used to illustrate concerns about the impact of the abundant consumption of low-quality online content, especially on social media.

Although recently the use of the word has become increasingly well known, the term "brain rot" was first recorded in Henry David Thoreau's book in 1854. According to Nepal Grathwohl, President of Oxford Languages, this term reflects one of the dangers felt from virtual life and how we use free time.

"This word is the next chapter in cultural conversations about humanity and technology," he said.

The term "steed brain" is now widely used by Generation Z and Alpha, which are the main communities in the use and creation of digital content.

Apart from the "steed brain", there are five viral words that are included in the list, but are not chosen as winners. These words include:

1. Demure Trends on social media last summer that refer to closed or responsible behavior.

2. Dynamic pricing The price of a product or service varies depending on demand.

3. Lore Facts and background information related to a person or something.

4. Romance The fictional genre that combines elements of romance and fantasy.

5. Slop Low quality online content generated using artificial intelligence.

There are also several viral words that won at Oxford in the previous year. Among other things, the word "rizz" (abbreviation from Charisma) was selected last year. Then, the word "goblin mode" was selected in 2022, and "vax" which refers to the pandemic era which won the award in 2021.