In early December, the Oxford English Dictionary announces its yearly Word of the Year, a reflection of the year’s cultural shifts and everyday language usage. In 2024, this word was “brainrot,” and although voting for the Oxford English Dictionary’s Word of the Year will not begin until mid-November, Dictionary.com has already announced its word of the year to be “6 7.”
Brainrot, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, is the “supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.” Brainrot being the 2024 Word of the Year speaks to our culture in two important ways:
- We are consuming an incredible amount of brainless content, and it may be having a negative impact on our cognitive abilities.
- We’re very aware that this is a problem: We used the word “brainrot” so often to discuss this issue that it was named the Word of the Year, after all.
The Internet: A Case Study in Potentiality
When the internet was pioneered, its champions imagined globalization as an enriching and diversifying force—the sharing of information, language, and culture was to bring our planet to its digital future. In many ways, that dream persists. With globalization came economic growth, shared knowledge and technology, enhanced communication, and cultural exchange on a global scale. However, in many ways, the dream of the internet’s amazing influence on the world has been replaced by worried voices speaking to the cultural and intellectual degradation caused by the internet. Many fear that the rapid development of the internet has detrimental impacts on our life—cyberbullying, internet addiction, porn addiction, social isolation,[1] materialism, increased consumption of material goods,[2] and a loss of individuality and hobbies outside of technology use. [3]
“Brainrot” content has not been found to cause greater cognitive decline than the consumption of other short-form content via social media—possibly because of the lack of research on the topic—but social media use has been associated with increased anxiety and depression, poor sleep quality, feelings of loneliness and isolation, and decreased self-esteem.[4] Likewise, heavy social media usage can cause cognitive failure[5] and negatively impact cognitive abilities like attention span, memory, and critical thinking, potentially leading to poorer intellectual performance and an inability to focus.[6]
Social Media Addiction
Regardless of how deep the societal effects of social media go, our language surrounding our observed cognitive impacts is clear enough. We feel like short-form content is “rotting” our brains and that we “rot” in bed while we’re “doomscrolling”; We know, inherently, the damage that social media is causing us on an individual level, even if we do not yet know what the long-term societal impacts will be. The good news is that this language may be too harsh. Social media is not, in fact, killing your brain—it’s simply altering your reward pathways.
Dopamine, the main chemical involved in addiction, is secreted from nerve tracts in the brain when we engage in rewarding experiences like finding food, shelter, or a mate—an evolutionary necessity—or when we’re scrolling on TikTok, buying a Labubu, or getting a like on Instagram. When the brain receives those feel-good chemicals from stimuli, it will drop dopamine production back down, not just to baseline but below it. Therefore, when we’re constantly consuming dopamine-producing stimuli (like social media content), we end up living in a constant dopamine-deficient state. And with our smartphones, smart TVs, and laptops easier to access than ever, it’s incredibly easy to get a fix.[7] This makes social media addiction very prevalent, but it also means that there is a way out.
Our dopamine pathways were rewired to crave the stimuli provided to us by social media, so they can be rewired again. Many experts in psychology and neurology suggest a digital detox, a period of at least one month without social media usage,[7] or possibly any digital media at all. While possible, the cold turkey method of quitting addictive substances is generally not recommended, as it can cause an increased risk of relapse due to psychological distress and intense cravings.[8] For those who don’t think that cutting out digital media completely is an option, cutting down on usage via setting strict screen times, creating more effective routines, and replacing social media usage with self-education may be a more effective option to combat brainrot.
Self-Education in the Face of Brainrot
Self-education is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the act or process of educating oneself by one’s own efforts, especially through reading and informal study” rather than through the formal education of a teacher. While “6 7” may very well end up being the Oxford English Dictionary’s 2025 Word of the Year, “self-education” is mine. Our brains have an incredible capacity for change; Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life in response to new experiences, learning, and environmental changes.[9] This means you can stimulate your brain by gaining new knowledge and skills, but also that you can change where your brain seeks its dopamine hits. Rather than doomscrolling, we can teach our brain that dopamine comes from learning new information, skills, and languages.
However, with access to information surrounding a nearly infinite number of topics, self-education can be a daunting task. Here are some basic guidelines to get you started thinking about your own self-education process:
- Identify what it is you want to learn: You probably have a vague idea of what topics and skills are interesting to you, but it will be incredibly helpful to make that topic more specific. Set a meaningful and actionable goal for yourself: rather than saying you want to “learn piano,” decide which songs or chords you want to learn, by when, and how you will measure your success. Make them SMART goals!
- Determine how you learn best: Do you learn best by reading? Watching videos? Enrolling in a course? Decide how you want to learn and find resources that will support your learning style. Public libraries often offer online courses on a plethora of topics for free. Mine offers personal training certifications, small-engine repair, language courses, and countless more through online learning resources!
- Practice deliberately: With so much information and so many alternate ways to learn, it can be difficult to focus your scope. Form a plan that allows you to practice your skills in a deliberate way.[10] Be intentional about it!
When you think about the person you want to be in the future, I imagine that you aren’t picturing all the short-form content you’ll consume or the countless hours you’ll spend bed-rotting. For those suffering with social media addiction or self-esteem issues arising from brainrot, know that it is not your fault—social media is designed to increase the likelihood of addiction, as companies want users to spend as much time possible on their platform, and therefore increase the amount of revenue these companies can generate from their platforms’ users. However, you have the power to rewire your brain, and self-education is the first step.
[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4789623/
[2] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9096894/
[3] https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/social-media-scrolling-hobbies-hobby-b2503421.html
[4] https://bvbh.net/2025/02/negative-effects-of-social-media/
[5] https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-023-05371-x
[6] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/unique-everybody-else/201904/social-media-probably-isn-t-making-you-stupid
[7] https://med.stanford.edu/news/insights/2021/10/addictive-potential-of-social-media-explained.html
[8] https://nhcc.us/2023/04/07/10-reasons-why-quitting-cold-turkey-usually-doesnt-work/
[9] https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-brain-plasticity-2794886
[10] https://collegeinfogeek.com/self-education/
Photo by Adrian Swancar for Unsplash.
