On 2 December 2024, the word “Brain Rot” was chosen by Oxford University Press as the word of the year. Since then, it has been circulating the internet. It might sound as a harmful physical condition; however, it implies the fatigue and cognitive decline usually experienced by individuals, especially young adults and adolescents.
The word “Brain Rot” was first used by Henry David in his book Walden, published in 1854, to criticise the society’s tendency to devalue complex ideas, showcasing a general decline in mental health and intellectual efforts. Thoreau questioned the cognitive decline of the English people and wondered: “While England endeavours to cure potato rot, would not anyone endeavours to cure the brain rot, which prevails so much more widely and fatally?”
However, in a century ruled by TikTok, reels, and trendy lifestyles videos, the word “Brain Rot” takes a new shift to convey a new meaning. While “Brain Rot” has not yet been recognized formally as a medical condition, its symptoms are widely spreading among younger generations. They have developed a doomscrolling habit to navigate social media which is a screen-centred, never-ending loop of videos.
In today’s world, people spend most of their time on their phones, scrolling aimlessly and being subjected to trivial content most of the time. As young generations are raising in a predominantly digital world, social media is used to achieve instant gratification and satisfaction and reach a daily dose of dopamine.
Dopamine, aka the feel-good hormone, is a neurotransmitter made naturally in the body. It plays a crucial role in body function, movement, memory, motivation, and attention. Dopamine works as a messenger, communicating massages between the nerve cells in the brain and the rest of the body. It is made in the adrenal gland, a small hat-shaped gland located on top of each of the kidneys. It is also a neurohormone released by the hypothalamus in the brain. The question is, how does spending more time “doom-scrolling” boosts dopamine?
Dopamine works as a reward system, where humans are wired to seek dopamine doses through pleasurable behaviours, through which you feel good, and you start to seek more of that pleasurable feeling. Unlike addictions to behaviours such as videogames and gambling which have endpoints, the danger of doom-scrolling lies in its endlessness. Each new post you view creates an infinite loop of content that keeps your brain hooked on a constant drip of dopamine.
The issue with doom-scrolling or zombie-scrolling is that the overstimulation of the digital platforms will lead to “Brain Rot” causing cognitive decline, shortened attention span and struggling to consume longer uncut content. Also, it causes anxiety, stress, and being unable to participate in real-life events, eventually leading to diminished productivity.
At the end, it turns out Thoreau has had a point: brain rot has become more and widespread and devastating. Yet, the only cure remains setting free from the grip of social media doom-scrolling.
References
corp.oup.com
my.clevelandclinic.org
webmd.com