By Marc W. Polite
Good evening, my readers. In yesterday’s New York Times, there was an article about the Oxford dictionary word of 2024. This year’s word is “Brain Rot”
Normally, I disagree with the Oxford dictionary and it’s decision to highlight a word for the year. This time, there’s no argument coming from me. This entry is spot on. It nails the collective cultural and intellectual decline in a way that hasn’t been named properly in a while.
According to the Oxford dictionary, brain rot describes the deterioration of a person’s intellectual abilities due to overconsumption of online content. In short, aimless scrolling is a factor that weakens the ability to concentrate long term.
While it aptly describes what we see on social media, this is only part of the story. In the attention based digital ecosystems of online interaction, deep thinking is punished by material associated with it sinking to the bottom. Meanwhile, rage bait is promoted to the top of any algorithm.
Furthermore, the ongoing assaults on public knowledge, education, and expertise continues from an unfortunate wealth of sources. The destruction of third spaces(like the lack of after school programs) leaves the youth with no places to go, leaving only the lane for them to be “chronically online”. The larger point here is that the brain rot has as much to do with the “rot at the top” as any other large factors.
While all of these developments are real, there’s one action that literacy advocates can suggest. That is.. to embrace books. Fight Brain Rot through reading. Encourage training your attention span to read books and push away from directionless scrolling. Just a few thoughts for the evening. Peace.
M.W.P.
It’s funny that the word of the year is two words. I am reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I had never heard of it til a friend I respect recommended it highly. It actually won the Nobel Prize. It’s only 288 pages, it’s dystopian and super imaginative, maybe sci-fi-ish. It’s great.
Spot on, sir!