REALITY CHECK
THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE HEADLINES
Named as the Oxford Word of the Year for 2024, ‘brain rot’ is defined as the “supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state” as a result of watching too much “trivial or unchallenging” content online, such as TikTok or Instagram Reels. The term is often bandied around in a jokey fashion, but what if there’s a grain of truth to it?