A strange word has been voted “word of the year 2024” by Oxford University Press. And although it translates as “brain rot”, most people are affected, mainly the younger generation.
Have we all become addicted to smartphones to the point of deteriorating our intelligence? If you watch these types of videos for hours, you're probably affected too. Indeed, a new expression propelled to the rank of “word of the year 2024” by the Oxford University Press was not chosen at random. This phenomenon affects many people who scroll through social networks, but young people are not the only ones to be seduced…
This English term is not new. “Brainrot” which translates as “brain rot” had already been used in 1854 by an American philosopher, Henry David Thoreau. In his book “Walden or life in the woods“, the latter mentions this expression to criticize superficial influences on the human mind.
Today, brainrot refers to digital content consumed excessively, often of low quality or unstimulating, repetitive and meaningless. For example, against a background of catchy music, we can watch a cat trying to catch a laser, a person falling and getting up endlessly, with a clip that plays in a loop. Certain videos with absurd humor are also very successful, as are compilations, hypnotic and sometimes sickening films (a person cutting soap into strips or having pimples pierced live…), animals in 3Ds dancing in a burning setting or even videos with strange sound effects…
In short, these are videos that we see a lot of lately and which have an addictive side. And for good reason: for some users, this content is simply relaxing because it makes you laugh and entertains without requiring intellectual effort. An expression that therefore lives up to its name since “brainrot” or “brain rot” encourages us to intellectual laziness. However, the younger generation also uses this term to simply designate the humor conveyed through these videos, and which amuses most Internet users.
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