'Brain Rot' - 2024 Word of the Year
Intention is the only true antidote
TLDR: How to stop the phenomenon of brain rot
Word count: 733
Read time: 4 mins
‘Brain rot’ is the 2024 Word of the Year, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Defined as the ‘supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging’, it’s been a trending word/phrase this year, particularly amongst Gen Z (born 1995-2009) and Gen Alpha (born 2010-2024), and on, ironically, TikTok, Insta, etc.
What a good label! The protection of our brain, the crowning achievement of all evolution, is deeply ingrained in our psychology, habits, decision-making, emotions and physiology (the skull). And so the idea of it rotting is jarring, repugnant, memorable and, this year, viral. (The concept of a rotting brain is so offensive that the GenAI programmers deem the request a violation of DALL·E 3’s content policies — I needed to coax it to produce even the mild, abstract image above).
Brain rot is real. It afflicts us for several hours a day. We find it difficult to resist. In many cases it’s worse than trivial or unchallenging — it can be toxic and harmful or lead to false beliefs. Brain rot is insidious and incomprehensibly powerful; it’s spawned by the most sophisticated algorithms we have devised, using trillions of data points and trained on the behaviour of billions of people.
Yet, absurdly, resistance is entirely within our control.
What is brain rot, really?
Brain rot has always been around in some form. There have always been forces at play addicting the masses to unproductive pursuits with short-term highs: gossip magazines, trashy novels, propagandistic media, soap operas, gambling, etc. The term ‘brain rot’ was first used all the way back in 1854.
The phenomenon has become much more prevalent recently, via the web and social media in particular. Web content is virtually infinite, mostly free, permanently available and, since it can be created by anyone at all, occasionally very dark indeed. It’s no wonder that we dopamine-seeking humans can get caught up in spirals of addiction.
But the problem isn’t just in the inanity or even pernicious content. The rot really gets to work because we succumb. We scroll and scroll, as if without choice. We yield to the hardware and apps and algorithms of Apple, Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, Baidu, etc. We reach for our phone out of an unseen compulsion, not from a conscious, deliberate need. Our agency has been battered and diminished. Our lives are now much less intentional, thanks to the miraculous advances of technology.
Stop the rot
We stop the rot through intention. We do this by giving ourselves the time and space for intentions to occur, planning them and seeing them through. Timeboxing delivers all this, systematically, consistently and reliably.
But whether you timebox or not, surely you need some way of avoiding brain rot, don’t you?
That’s why the MR ELF mnemonic is useful. If you’re not sure of what to do with an hour, say, that’s just become free, consider:
Meditation
Reading
Exercise
Learning
Friends-and-Family
It’s practically impossible to spend your time on any of these five pursuits and then regret it! That time will have been intentional. It will have been time well spent. Your brain will not have rotted, it will have been nourished.
Rot-stopping tips
Use social media better; follow accounts that nourish rather than rot your brain.
Read one academic paper a month.
MR ELF.
Spend more time in nature.
Volunteer to help your community in some way.
Set daily time limits for certain apps on your phone.
Put your phone out of sight and/or reach when you need to (eg you’re working, you're in a 1-1 setting, you’re in a meeting, you’re reading, etc).
Turn off non-essential (ie all!) notifications.
Avoid using social media within an hour of waking up or before sleeping.
Regularly detox by taking social media-free days or weeks.
All of these are about having and listening to your intentions. They come from a higher being that knows you and cares about you, more than anything else. That being, obviously, is YOU. And you don’t want your brain to rot.
Make an anti-brain-rot 2025 New Year’s Resolution now, a few weeks early. There’s more of you making that decision, if you’re doing it out of step with the tradition and everyone else. There’s more of your agency.
And here’s to the 2025 Word of the Year: timeboxing.
Marc
Links you may like
7 days of Timeboxing (the free email micro-course)
Timeboxing, the book (US)
Timeboxing, the book (UK)
Timeboxing, el libro (Español)
Connect with me on LinkedIn (I will say yes!)