You might have thought the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of 2024 would be ‘brat’ (confident, independent, hedonistic), ‘slop’ (sharing inaccurate AI-generated content indiscriminately), or even ‘delulu’ (originating from delusional and unrealistic expectations).

In fact, it’s brain rot.

Apparently, our brains have been shrinking, attention spans shortening, and memories worsening since email and the internet entered our lives in the 1990s. And that’s before mobile phones came to dominate our every waking hour.

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