Word of the Year
Each year, different publishers announce their “Word of the Year.” This year, the Oxford University Press released its word of the year as “brain rot.” This was their definition:
“brain rot (n.) supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a 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.”
They gave the following rationale as to why they chose this word:
After over 37,000 votes, worldwide public discussion, and analysis of our language data, we have named ‘brain rot’ as our Word of the Year for 2024. Our experts noticed that ‘brain rot’ gained new prominence this year as a term used to capture concerns about the impact of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary chose the word “polarization” as its word of the year and define it thusly:
“polarization (n) division into two sharply distinct opposites especially: a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a continuum but become concentrated at opposing extremes.”
They made these comments about their selection:
Merriam-Webster’s 2024 Word of the Year is polarization, which happens to be one idea that both sides of the political spectrum agree on. Search volume on Merriam-Webster.com throughout the year reflected the desire of Americans to better understand the complex state of affairs in our country and around the world.
I am fascinated at the profundity of both selections and have been reflecting on each word of the year for several weeks. Both words, “brain rot” and “polarization,” seem to accurately capture the angst of the present cultural moment. My contemplation on these two words of the year have me settled on one simple insight. “Brain rot” describes an inward human condition while “polarization” describes an outward human condition and they are connected. Let me explain.
In his classic book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl writes,
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
Though a brilliant and decorated neurologist, psychologist, and philosopher, Frankl’s insight was not conceived in the ivory towers of academia, but rather on the brutal grounds of four concentration camps in Nazi Germany. His father and wife died in camps of disease while his mother and brother were murdered in gas chambers. Frankl was a Holocaust survivor. He championed human flourishing through careful, thoughtful and intentional decision making despite circumstances even in circumstances as horrific as concentration camps. It seems to me that in our contemporary culture, Frankl’s word about choosing “one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances” is a helpful and even prophetic word.
“Brain rot,” the deterioration of one’s mental state, is the result of an overstimulated mind because of “the impact of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media.” But we must remember that engagement in social media is a volitional choice we make as humans who have been made in the image of God with the God-given gift of personal agency.
In an article entitled, “Americans spend far more time on their smartphones than they think,” the author Ellen Brown wrote, based on a 2019 survey:
The average American spends 5.4 hours a day on their phone…Overall, social media takes up the bulk of smartphone screen time. Americans spend an average of just over an hour (64.5) minutes a day on Facebook and 48 minutes on Instagram.
That’s a ton of time every day. No doubt the cumulative impact of this engagement is significant.
This unhealthy attachment to our smartphones and social media comes at a huge personal (“Brain rot”) and relational cost (“polarization.”) Dr. Darren Whitehead, Lead Pastor at Church of the City in Franklin, Tennessee, wrote in his book The Digital Fast,
Social scientist and anthropologist have observed that our fixation with digital devices has numbed us, sedated us, and exhausted us, leaving us feeling lonelier and more disconnected. It has lulled us to sleep and left us not fully awake to life.
Our warped and broken inner world (“brain rot”) that leads to strained and broken relationships (“polarization”) is directly linked to the choices we make especially around our digital use.
As I transitioned from being a pastor to leadership coach in September 2023 (You can read about this here), I determined that I would carefully craft new rhythms and routines that would facilitate personal health, wholeness and holiness. I had learned from reading Boundaries for Leaders by Dr. Henry Cloud that I was “ridiculously in charge of my life.” This liminal space of vocational change was a God-given passage for more intentional shifts towards flourishing in every area of my life. For example, in October following my retirement from Grace Church, Cheryl and I started practicing “intermittent fasting” and I have lost 30 pounds. I also intentionally set a coaching schedule that begins at 10:00 am and ends at 4:00 pm Monday through Friday. This gave me plenty of time in the morning, my best time, for tending to my relationship with God and myself. I set a robust hour and 15 minutes for daily Bible reading, reflection, journaling and other reading in a time I call “Eremos,” the Greek word for “wilderness” as in Luke 5:16 (NIV) But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places (eremos) and prayed. I also blocked out one hour every day for exercise. My exercise of choice in these days is a water rower in our home. I also set Saturday aside as my “Sabbath Day.”
But as helpful as these intentional decisions have been, no decision has been as transformational to me as getting off all social media. Let me say from the beginning, I am not suggesting that everyone must or even should do this. It was a clear prompt from the Holy Spirit for this new season of my life and I have no regrets. In 2021, I read John Mark Comer’s book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. One of the things he suggested in the book was that we turn our smart phones into dumb phones by doing things like eliminating email, taking all social media off it, and creatively suggesting that we parent our phone by putting it to bed at night. I took this to heart (except the removing of email from my phone). The game changer was taking off my Facebook and X appsoff my phone. These were my only two social media accounts. This meant I had to go to my desktop computer to check either account. I could not believe how this simple intentional decision helped especially with the unhelpful habit known as “death scrolling.” This is the habit of endless scrolling through social media with no real purpose. I would do this while watching TV, sitting at traffic lights and sadly, even while in rooms with people in both literal and virtual spaces. It was ugly.
A few months later, I was driving in my car to Orlando and I listened a “Practicing the Way” podcast. It was a conversation between John Mark Comer and Andy Crouch. Andy is an amazing Christian thought leader, brilliant writer and compelling speaker especially in the important area of the impact of technology on our lives. In this podcast, Andy suggested that the single most deforming influence in our world today is “algorithms.” Sprout Social defines “algorithms” this way:
In social media, algorithms are rules, signals and data that govern the platform’s operation. These algorithms determine how content is filtered, ranked, selected and recommended to users. In some ways, algorithms influence our choices and what we see on social media.
In essence, algorithms seek to influence what I see and the choices I make, but I also discovered that it influenced my emotional, relational and spiritual wellbeing. Andy’s thoughtful discourse as I drove to Orlando that afternoon quickened in me to make a Spirit-inspired decision. It was time for me to shut down my Facebook and X accounts. I was getting off all social media. And that week, I did.
It’s been about six months or so since I made this important decision. Do I miss it? Honestly, a little, but not enough to log back on. The serenity that has filled my soul far exceeds any positive result of being on social media. Disconnecting myself from my self-inflicted “brain rot” has helped me disengage from “polarization.” For example, this past Presidential election cycle, I only knew what I saw on the news and what others told me. The vicious vitriol I had previously witnessed between brothers and sisters in Christ never entered the grey matter between my ears and thus did not lodge itself in my soul. The denominational and theological circus that I had witnessed on social media did not have any possibility of infecting my heart and stirring feelings of anger and hatred towards people made in the image of God. I have discovered that my “brain rot” feeds my “polarization” and vice versa.
As an apprentice of Jesus, I get to choose the habits, patterns and rhythms of my life. I believe that this was described in the first creation story found in Genesis 1. “Saving the best for last,” on day 6, God made humans. Genesis 1:26-28 (NIV) records it this way:
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Part of the triune God’s masterplan was for man and woman, made in his image, to “rule.” Some translations use the phrase “have dominion.” This is free will and agency. This is the God-given, “good” (tov in Hebrew) capacity to make decisions for our lives regardless of the circumstances. This is the shared wisdom of Victor Frankl, Darren Whitehead, Henry Cloud and John Mark Comer. But more importantly, it is the wisdom of our Rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth. Remember what he taught his disciples with the shadow of the cross looming over the room where he gathered with them. Some of his last words included an invitation to ongoing, intentional union with him. John 15:4 (RSV) summarizes it well:
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
We resist both “brain rot” in our inner world and “polarization” in our outer world as we abide in Jesus. How about making the 2025 Word of the Year in your life “abide?”
