“BRAIN rot” has been voted word of the year after its usage rocketed among Gen Z.
The condition, which is not medically recognised, can be caused by watching addictive memes and videos on social media for hours, experts say.
It triumphed in a poll of more than 37,000 people by Oxford University Press, which defined it as the perceived deterioration of a person’s intellectual state, especially via over consumption of trivial, mainly online, material.
It was first recorded by US writer Henry David Thoreau in 1854, where he criticised society’s tendency to devalue complex ideas.
But it has taken on a new significance due to the rise of social media video apps such as TikTok.
Its usage rose by 230 per cent from 2023 to 2024, particularly among Gen Z and younger communities.
Casper Grathwohl, of Oxford Languages, said: “‘Brain rot’ speaks to one of the perceived dangers of virtual life, and how we are using our free time.
“It demonstrates a somewhat cheeky self-awareness in the younger generations about the harmful impact of the social media that they’ve inherited.”
Other shortlisted words include “dynamic pricing”, heavily used when Oasis concert tickets rocketed amid huge demand.
Also featured were “romantasy”, a literary genre combining romantic fiction and fantasy, and “slop”, low-quality, inaccurate content created using artificial intelligence.
Last year’s Oxford top word was “rizz”, slang for romantic or sexual appeal, which originated online.
