Brain Rot: How Does The Word Of The Year Impact Our Mental Health?

This year's word of the year announced by Oxford University Press (OUP) is 'brain rot'. The selection was done on the basis of public votes from a shortlist of six words compiled by Oxford University.

As per OUP, 'brain rot' is defined 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. Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration”.

The first time this word was used in an 1854 book by Henry David, called Walden, which described the experiences of living a simple lifestyle in the natural world.

Well, we have al experiences zoning out and feeling foggy, a little sleepy and out of context during a conversation. It is hard to focus and we feel anxious, agitated and negative. This is what brain rot feels like.

These feelings stay even when we get enough rest. This is because our days pass by spending endless hours in front of hour phones or computer screens, causing a digital information overload. The result is brain rot, adding further to mental pressure.

For those who think brain rot is not a real phenomenon would be sad to know that it is. It is the state of this mental fogginess and cognitive decline that results from excessive screen engagement.

This happens due to excessive technology use, mindless scrolling and continuous surfing the Internet, texting, or checking your email, without actually having to do anything with it. It almost becomes your hobby.

Video Gaming: Would you believe it if we told you that there actually exists gaming disorder? This is when someone becomes too addicted to gaming and plays compulsively. The person becomes entranced by video games' alternate worlds, fancy characters, and complicated plots, often comparing them with their own world and thus having difficulty in real life. The person, during real-life situations, may zone out in the fantasy of the video game world.

Zombie Scrolling: This refers to mindless scrolling with no destination in mind. This makes you stare at your smartphone, without having anything in your mind. This could often be translated even when you are not on your phone, staring at nothingness, often leading to brain rot.

Doom scrolling: It involves searching for distressing information and negative news. Doom scrollers feel an overwhelming urge to be up to date on the latest information, especially when it is disturbing.

Social Media Addiction: It is the persistent urge to check social media, and your notifications, and a feeling of restlessness when you do not check it.

While on the surface, it may seem like a harmless activity, but it can damage your mental well-being. Such activities affect brain's reward system, because when you prioritize and remember negative information, such as in doom scrolling, you tend to look out for that even when not on your phone. It further could lead to a chain of negative news, once you land on one, you can just enter a rabbit hole of negative news.

A 2022 study published in Springer Nature titled Doomscrolling Scale: its Association with Personality Traits, Psychological Distress, Social Media Use, and Wellbeing, showed that doom scrolling could lead to higher levels of psychological disorder and lower levels of mental well-being.

Another 2022 study published in Taylor & Francis by Bryan Mclaughlin showed that people who have high levels of negative news consumption also have poorer mental and physical health.

A 2019 study titled The "online brain": how the Internet may be changing our cognition, showed that the Internet can also produce acute and sustained alterations in cognition related to attention and memory. This can also affect the brain's grey matter.

Another 2023 study on the Effects of Social Media Addiction, published in the Journal of Psychology Research and Behavior Management analyzed 1051 young adults between 18 and 27 and found that social media addiction could ruin your planning, organization, problem-solving, decision-making and working memory capabilities.

These habits could also lead to a decline in self-worth, and heightened levels of stress, anxiety, and depression.