Brain rot is the Oxford Word of the Year for 2024.
What does that say about us?

brain rot (n.) 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.

Brain rot
beat out five other words that were under consideration for the honor:
demure
dynamic pricing
lore
romantasy
slop

The Newport Institute released a report outlining the dangers of this phenomenon. The academic paper concluded with a list of ways to prevent the alarming social trend that is causing our brains to disintegrate.

1. Don’t sit in front of screens all day.
2. Consider unplugging completely.
3. Go outside and take a walk.
4. Get a hobby.
5. Talk to real people face to face.

Does the fact that I had to use the internet to find out this information mean I’ve just succumbed to the prevalent rotting of our collective brains?

Wow.
I think we’re in trouble.

At least “slop” didn’t win.

slop (n.) Art, writing, or other content generated using artificial intelligence, shared and distributed online in an indiscriminate or intrusive way, and characterized as being of low quality, inauthentic, or inaccurate.

Whoo boy.

The Psalmist spoke for God in Psalm 81:11-12.
“My people would not listen to me,
so I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
to follow their own devices.”

Surely this isn’t referring to our devices. Or is it?

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Romans 12:2