'Brain rot' has been named the Oxford connection of the year in a motion to low-quality societal media contented that is 'deteriorating' British people's minds.
It was defined as: 'The expected deterioration of a person's intelligence oregon intelligence state, particularly viewed arsenic the effect of overconsumption of worldly (now peculiarly online content) considered trivial oregon unchallenging'.
Oxford University Press crowned the look pursuing a nationalist ballot that saw much than 37,000 radical worldwide person their say.
The president of Oxford Languages Casper Grathwohl said: 'Last year's winning word, ''rizz,'' was an absorbing illustration of however connection is progressively formed, shaped, and shared wrong online communities.
'''Brain rot'' speaks to 1 of the perceived dangers of virtual life, and however we are utilizing our escaped time.
'It feels similar a rightful adjacent section successful the taste speech astir humanity and technology.
'It's not astonishing that truthful galore voters embraced the term, endorsing it arsenic our prime this year.
'I besides find it fascinating that the connection 'brain rot' has been adopted by Gen Z and Gen Alpha, those communities mostly liable for the usage and instauration of the integer contented the word refers to.
Brain rot is 'the expected deterioration of a person's intelligence oregon intelligence state, particularly viewed arsenic the effect of overconsumption of worldly (now peculiarly online content) considered trivial oregon unchallenging' (Stock image)
'These communities person amplified the look done societal media channels, the precise spot said to origin ''brain rot'.'
'It demonstrates a somewhat cheeky self-awareness successful the younger generations astir the harmful interaction of the societal media that they've inherited.'
This was the 3rd consecutive twelvemonth that connection enthusiasts were invited to person their say, with the six contenders—brain rot, demure, slop, dynamic pricing, romantasy, and lore— opening for nationalist ballot connected 14 November for 2 weeks.
Once the voting closed, connection experts astatine OUP conducted a last elaborate analysis, considering corpus data, votes, and nationalist commentary connected the finalists, earlier naming the definitive connection of the year.
'Brain rot' was 1 of the six contenders shortlisted by OUP's connection experts to bespeak immoderate of the moods and conversations that person shaped the past year.
The president of Oxford Languages Casper Grathwohl said: '''Brain rot'' speaks to 1 of the perceived dangers of virtual life, and however we are utilizing our escaped time' (Stock image)
Selected done a operation of voting results, nationalist commentary, and investigation of OUP's connection data, 'brain rot' gained caller prominence successful 2024 arsenic a word utilized to seizure concerns astir the interaction of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, particularly connected societal media.
With the archetypal recorded usage of 'brain rot' successful 1854 by Henry David Thoreau successful his publication Walden, the word has taken connected a caller value successful the integer age, particularly implicit the past year.
Initially gaining traction connected societal media platforms, peculiarly among Gen Z and Gen Alpha communities on TikTok, 'brain rot' is present seeing much wide use.
The usage of 'brain rot' saw an summation of 230 per cent successful its frequence from 2023 to 2024.
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