‘Brain rot’ is the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year – a fitting choice, given the startling impact the internet is having on our grey matter
If you want to witness the last vestiges of human intellect swirling down the drain, hold your nose and type the words “skibidi toilet” into YouTube. The 11-second video features an animated human head protruding from a toilet bowl while singing the nonsensical lyrics “skibidi dop dop dop yes yes”. The clip has been viewed more than 215m times, and spawned hundreds of millions of references on TikTok and other social media.
Fitting, then, that the Oxford English Dictionary has just announced “brain rot” as its word of year. As an abstract concept, brain rot is something we’re all vaguely aware of. The dictionary defines it as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging”. But few people are aware of how literally technology is rotting our brains, and how decisively compulsive internet use is destroying our grey matter.
Siân Boyle is a freelance journalist
