“Brain Rot”
Categories: Bulletin Articles, Church of Christ Bulletin Articles Tags: "Brain Rot"
“Brain Rot” is Oxford Word of the Year. Each year the Oxford University Press, the publishing house responsible for producing the Oxford English Dictionary (considered by many to be the defining dictionary of the English language) puts out a word of the year. This year’s “word” is two words: “Brain Rot.” The “word” increased in usage in 2024 by 230%. The organization reports that over 37,000 people voted, and this “word” was the winner.
What is “Brain Rot?” It is an alleged deterioration of one’s mental state due to overconsuming frivolous online material. No doubt, many of us have spent time scrolling through different social media apps looking at memes and watching videos. It is this kind of thing that produces “brain rot.”
While the word usage may be novel to many, the attitudes and motivations behind it are not. Luke wrote about the Athenians in Acts 17:21, “For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.” In man’s never-ceasing efforts to cure boredom, there is a constant desire to “tell or hear some new thing.” What is the main issue? Boredom is the inability of oneself to entertain oneself. Do you see the problem?
We are selfish and we always want ourselves to be satisfied and gratified. Can this world satisfy us? It cannot. Jesus said, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Whether one is pursuing wealth, entertainment, beauty, power, education, or whatever, the motivation is the same. One’s self is at the center of one’s desires. Our focus must shift from self to Jesus. Only then may we truly find ourselves (Matthew 16:25).
God bless you, and I love you.
Kevin Cauley