"Brain Drain: The Hidden Dangers of Junk Content on Our Mental Health"
“Brain rot” fue designada como la Palabra del Año por Oxford para 2024 tras una votación pública que involucró a más de 37,000 personas. Oxford University Press define este concepto como “el supuesto deterioro del estado mental o intelectual de una persona, especialmente considerado como resultado del consumo excesivo de contenido (ahora en particular material en línea) que se percibe como superficial o poco desafiante.”
According to Oxford’s language experts, the term reflects growing concerns about “the impact of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media.” The term increased in usage frequency by 230% between 2023 and 2024.
But brain rot is not just a linguistic quirk. Over the past decade, scientific studies have shown that consuming excessive amounts of junk content — including sensationalist news, conspiracy theories and vacuous entertainment — can profoundly affect our brains. In other words, “rot” may not be that big of an exaggeration when it comes to describing the impact of low-quality online content.