Photographer, Basak Gurbuz Derman (Getty Images)
“Brain rot” was named the Oxford Word of the Year for 2024 after a public vote involving more than 37,000 people. Oxford University Press defines the concept 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.”
According to Oxford’s language experts, the term reflects growing concerns about “the impact of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media.” The term increased in usage frequency by 230% between 2023 and 2024.
But brain rot is not just a linguistic quirk. Over the past decade, scientific studies have shown that consuming excessive amounts of junk content — including sensationalist news, conspiracy theories and vacuous entertainment — can profoundly affect our brains. In other words, “rot” may not be that big of an exaggeration when it comes to describing the impact of low-quality online content.
Research from prestigious institutions such as Harvard Medical School, Oxford University, and King’s College London — cited by The Guardian — reveals that social media consumption can reduce grey matter, shorten attention spans, weaken memory, and distort core cognitive functions.
A 2023 study highlighted these effects, showing how internet addiction causes structural changes in the brain that influence behavior and cognitive abilities. Michoel Moshel, a researcher at Macquarie University and co-author of the study, explains that compulsive content consumption — popularly known as doomscrolling — “takes advantage of our brain’s natural tendency to seek out new things, especially when it comes to potentially harmful or alarming information, a trait that once helped us survive.”
Moshel explains that features like “infinite scrolling,” which are designed to keep users glued to their screens, can trap people — especially young individuals — in a cycle of content consumption for hours. “This can significantly impair attention and executive functions by overwhelming our focus and altering the way we perceive and respond to the world,” says the researcher.
Eduardo Fernández Jiménez, a clinical psychologist at Hospital La Paz in Madrid, explains that the brain activates different neural networks to manage various types of attention. He notes that excessive use of smartphones and the internet is causing issues with sustained attention, which “allows you to concentrate on the same task for a more or less extended period of time.” He adds: “It is the one that is linked to academic learning processes.”
The problem, says the researcher, is that social media users are constantly exposed to rapidly changing and variable stimuli — such as Instagram notifications, WhatsApp messages, or news alerts — that have addictive potential. This means users are constantly switching their focus, which undermines their ability to concentrate effectively.
The first warning came with email
Experts have been sounding the alarm about this issue since the turn of the century, when email became a common tool. In 2005, The Guardian ran the headline: “Email pose ‘threat to IQ.’” The article reported that a team of scientists at the University of London investigated the impact of the constant influx of information on the brain. After conducting 80 clinical trials, they found that participants who used email and cellphones daily experienced an average IQ drop of 10 points. The researchers concluded that this constant demand for attention had a more detrimental effect than cannabis use
This was before the rise of tweets, Instagram reels, TikTok challenges, and push notifications. The current situation, however, is even more concerning. Recent research has found that excessive internet use is linked to a decrease in grey matter in the prefrontal regions of the brain — areas responsible for problem-solving, emotional regulation, memory, and impulse control.
The research conducted by Moshel and his colleagues supports these findings. Their latest study, which reviewed 27 neuroimaging studies, revealed that excessive internet use is associated with a reduction in the volume of grey matter in brain regions involved in reward processing, impulse control, and decision-making. “These changes reflect patterns observed in substance addictions,” says Moshel, comparing them to the effects of methamphetamines and alcohol.
That’s not all. The research also found that “these neuroanatomical changes in adolescents coincide with disruptions in processes such as identity formation and social cognition — critical aspects of development during this stage.” This creates a kind of feedback loop, where the most vulnerable individuals are often the most affected. According to a study published in Nature in November, people with poorer mental health are more likely to engage with junk content, which further exacerbates their symptoms.
