What Is “Brain Rot” In Popular Culture, And How Can It Affect Mental Health?

You may have heard the term “brain rot” used to denote certain types of online content or TV, or to refer to the way consuming too much digital media can lead a person to feel. This term was named the Oxford University Press’s “Word of the Year” in 2024, but many remain unaware that this pop culture term’s origins trace back quite a bit further. Here, we’ll examine the concept of “brain rot,” the history of the term, and strategies you can use to find more balance in your relationship with the internet and digital media.

What is “brain rot,” Oxford University Press’s 2024 Word of the Year?

Every 12 months, Oxford University Press chooses a Word of the Year based on which one of a few selected terms receives the most votes. In 2024, online voters chose “brain rot” as the Word of the Year.

Diving deeper into the concept of brain rot

It can be important to note that brain rot is not a clinical or scientific term. Instead, it’s a colloquial, pop culture term often used on social media. It can refer to a particular feeling or effect, or to content that imparts that feeling or effect. Usually, the phenomenon of brain rot is said to stem from consuming a large volume of short-form content pieces in a brief period. Brain rot may also result from consuming content that is widely viewed as having little value. Feelings or other effects that may result from consuming this type of content can include the following:

• A sense of lethargy

• A lack of motivation to stop watching content and engage in other activities

• A sense of disconnection from the “real” or offline world

• Feelings of loneliness, sadness, and/or guilt

While brain rot is not a mental health diagnosis, consuming this type of content frequently or in great volume over a short time may contribute to or exacerbate mental health symptoms. For example, a person with signs of depression might turn to an episode of their favorite reality TV show for comfort with no ill effects. However, binge-watching TV—especially in a genre that a person may consider to be of little value—could lead them to feel even more lonely, lethargic, or hopeless.

What qualifies something as brain rot content is subjective. However, many use this term to refer to content that doesn’t promote analysis or deep thinking, that may promote harmful habits or thought patterns, or that is too short or too unfocused to provide much significant value to the viewer. Content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) is often placed in this category.

Why “brain rot” was chosen as Oxford University Press’s Word of the Year

Oxford University Press reports that the usage frequency of this word went up 230% between 2023 and 2024. It’s not just frequency of use that makes a term a good candidate for Word of the Year, however. It’s also what the term tells us about our collective consciousness and some of the key issues facing society today.

“Brain rot,” as a recent Word of the Year, reflects multiple common concerns today:

• The mental health impacts of social media use

• The proliferation of content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) and how AI is impacting the world in general

• The impacts of popular media (like TV shows) today, and what they may indicate about our society

• The mental health and well-being of children and young people today, including Generation Z and Generation Alpha

The history of “brain rot” as a popular culture term

Though it was chosen as the Word of the Year for 2024, the origins of the phrase “brain rot” go back much further. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the first recorded usage of the term was in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. In it, he says: “While England endeavors to cure the potato-rot, will not any endeavor to cure the brain-rot, which prevails so much more widely and fatally?” The dictionary notes multiple other recorded uses of the term in subsequent years, throughout the 1900s, until it became a widely used term in the 2020s.

The term’s resurgence in popular culture

In the age of social media, slang and other cultural terms can arise and spread very quickly. The sharp rise in popularity of the term “brain rot” between 2023 and 2024 reflects this.

Brain rot, the internet, and mental health

Today, in the digital age, the term “brain rot” is usually used to refer to forms of digital media, from online videos to streaming TV shows. As such, it’s often tied to discussions on how social media and the internet more generally can impact a person’s mental health. While the internet and social media can be useful tools, they also have the potential to negatively impact well-being—particularly when misused or overused.

Research on digital media and mental health

There’s a growing body of research on the topic of how internet use in general may impact mental health, especially among young people. Here are some recent findings:

• As of 2022, 97% of US teens are daily internet users, and 46% say they are online “almost constantly.”

• A 2023 study suggests that people who use social media for the motive of maintaining their relationships “feel lonelier than those who spend the same amount of time on social media for other reasons.”

• As of 2022, almost half of teenagers aged 13 to 17 report having experienced cyberbullying.

• As reported by research from 2019, spending more time on social media is associated with “higher levels of loss of interest in offline activities, concentration problems, fatigue, and loneliness.”

• A study from 2024 indicates that the type of content consumed may be more important than the overall time spent on social media when it comes to mental health and body image. It indicates that “exposure to weight loss content was associated with lower body appreciation, greater fears of negative appearance evaluation, and more frequent binge eating,” and that exposure to body positivity/neutrality content did not have protective effects.

• “Problematic binge-watching” of TV shows may qualify as a behavioral addiction and is often associated with worse mental health overall, potentially increasing “impulsivity, anxiety, alexithymia, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms.”

Much of the research on the broad topic of how internet use, social media use, and TV can impact mental well-being emphasizes the way these things are used. For instance, if a person is able to balance their media consumption to avoid overuse and still maintain healthy habits, the risk of media-related brain rot and negative mental health effects may be reduced.

Tips for balancing your internet and media consumption to avoid brain rot

Avoiding brain rot and its potential effects can involve changes to how you consume media, how much media you consume, and what type of media you consume. Below are some tips that may help you balance your internet and media consumption to reduce the likelihood of experiencing negative mental health effects like mental fatigue, decreased cognitive function or cognitive abilities, negative feelings, and others.

Practice mindfulness

A major part of limiting brain rot content or avoiding brain rot effects may be a sense of mindfulness. This term generally refers to a nonjudgmental sense of present awareness. Practicing a few minutes of mindfulness each day, such as by following a guided mindfulness meditation track or doing a deep breathing exercise, may help you reduce brain rot’s effects in your life. For example, you may use mindfulness to help yourself recognize:

• How different types of media lead you to feel after you consume them

• When you may need to take a media break due to its effects

• When you’re turning to media for comfort, and when another approach (taking a walk, journaling, talking to a friend) may be more helpful to you

Noticing the effects of the content you consume might help you keep track of the way your digital habits are impacting you so that you can set healthy boundaries and limits as needed.

Schedule other types of activities

Cutting off all internet use, social media use, or TV consumption is often neither practical nor necessary. It may not even be necessary to cut off all brain rot-type content, if you enjoy some forms that may fall under this designation. Instead, it’s often helpful to add other activities that may provide other types of benefits. Putting these activities in your calendar or committing to doing them regularly with a friend could help you hold yourself accountable. For example, you might schedule regular offline time to get out in nature, exercise, read a book, learn a new skill, engage in an offline hobby, or play with your pet. 

Set boundaries on your internet use and media consumption

Finally, setting boundaries and limits on your internet use and media consumption may be necessary. In general, social media platforms and reality TV are specifically designed to “hook” users and keep them scrolling or watching, so hinging your use on willpower alone may not be feasible. Instead, you might set and enforce firm boundaries for yourself to avoid or limit brain rot content and limit social media, internet, and TV usage overall.

Examples of a few strategies that may help you place enforceable limits on your media consumption include:

• Sleeping with your phone in another room to avoid late-night scrolling

• Using an app to enforce your desired limits on screen time

• Disabling social media and streaming app notifications on your phone and computer 

• Setting rules with the people you share a home with, such as no phones at the dinner table

• Deleting social media apps and using the sites in your browser instead, or turning your phone to black-and-white mode to make endless scrolling less appealing

• Turning off the “autoplay” feature on the streaming apps you use to help avoid binge-watching

• Setting a limit for how long you want to watch TV or scroll, and then setting a timer and placing it in another room; getting up to turn off the timer later may dissuade you from getting stuck in a scrolling or binge-watching cycle

Reaching out for support in achieving balance

If you're struggling to achieve balance when it comes to internet use, TV-watching, or consuming other digital content, you are not alone. Most people who use the internet or watch TV have experienced difficulty limiting their use at some time or another—and again, these platforms and forms of media are generally designed to encourage high usage. 

That said, having a sense that your habits are unhealthy or that you don't have control over them can be distressing and may negatively impact your mental health in a variety of ways. If you're looking for support in setting healthy boundaries with media to avoid or reduce the effects of brain rot, meeting with a therapist might be helpful.

A therapist may be able to help you identify the emotions that lead you to use social media or watch TV excessively, as well as find healthier ways to notice and cope with your emotions. They may also help you address any mental health conditions or cognitive health concerns that could be impacting, resulting from, or exacerbated by your media usage.

Exploring the option of online therapy

While meeting with a therapist is often helpful for those trying to change their relationship with social media or TV-watching, attending in-person sessions isn’t always feasible for everyone. For example, if you have few providers in your area or trouble fitting a commute to therapy appointments into your schedule, you might consider exploring online therapy instead. This format allows you to meet with a licensed therapist via video call, audio call, or live chat from the comfort of home or anywhere you have an internet connection. Plus, online therapy can be more affordable than in-person therapy without insurance. 

What the research says about online therapy

There is a growing body of research to suggest that, in general, online therapy is as effective as in-person therapy for treating a variety of mental health concerns. For example, a study from 2021 indicates that online therapy appears to be “no less efficacious”  than traditional in-person care.