Brain Rot

One of the best tools at your disposal for tracking changes in youth culture is the dictionary. That’s right, the dictionary. I say this because the rate of cultural change is now so fast that those who publish dictionaries are constantly removing words deemed irrelevant and no longer usable, while adding words that reflect cultural change. Earlier this month, the folks at the Oxford Dictionary actually named one of these new words, brain rot, as the word of the year for 2024. Oxford defines brain rot as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material, usually online content, considered to be trivial or unchallenging.” The word was chosen to reflect what our consumption of excessive amounts of low-quality online content is doing to our brains, our relationships, and our lives. Parents, stop your constant scrolling and teach your kids to do the same. Let’s promote heart for God flourishing.