The phrase “brain rot” spiked 230 percent from 2023 to 2024, according to the makers of the Oxford English Dictionary

Oxford University Press has named “brain rot” its word of the year. It's defined as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state,” especially from consuming too much low-grade online content.

After a long day, we’ve all been guilty of mindlessly scrolling through our social media feeds, sometimes for hours at a time. This phenomenon has been dubbed "brain rot", and Oxford University Press has chosen the term as its word of the year for 2024.