This blog is written as part of a task assigned by Prof. Dilip Barad, Department of English (MKBU). In this blog, there is a discussion related to words of the year from Cambridge and Harvard that are ‘Manifest’ and ‘Brain Rot’.
Teacher's Blog for further reading.
Oxford Word of the Year: "Brain Rot"
"Brain rot" has been chosen to reflect growing concerns about the effects of excessive consumption of low-quality online content. While the term is often used humorously, it also points to serious discussions about mental health in the digital age.
Cambridge Word of the Year: "Manifest"
"Manifest" in this context refers to the act of imagining achieving something you want, in the belief that doing so will make it more likely to happen. This usage stems from a 100-year-old spiritual philosophy movement and has gained popularity as individuals seek to articulate intentions and personal goals even though it is 'unproven' and a part of 'pseudoscience.' It highlights a broader cultural trend of self-help cultural expression in the pursuit of purposeful living, which somehow turns out to be a mere sham, not leading to strategic planning to achieve goals.
With the context of the world of harvard that is Brain Rot. that is related to a brain that has spoiled with the excessive use of social media and from getting the mass access to the misinformation. In the social context it is to be looked at then in the society and the social media that are mostly used by the Genz generation. They have limited sources of information or rather true information. That is harmful for the brain. As we know that any other social media works on the algorithm. Whatever the content we like there are more chances that we get the same information. That seems to be harmful because it makes one believe in one wrong thing more firmly.
In the psychological impact that happened to the nes generation with the emergence of social media. People are not able to concentrate, one needs everything readymaid. One would watch a youtube video or reels rather than reading from the authentic book. Then people would become more and more brain rot.
Talking about another word ‘Manifest’ given by Cambridge, that is related to the pseudoscience that if one thinks about something several times then that would become reality. The word is related to the self-help books. It is a decade old idea that many disease can be cured with just thinking about it. Idea is good, being positive is good but when one just be positive and do nothing, then there is a problem. One has to work hard when one wants to be successful, one has to work hard, nothing happens just by being positive or thinking about it.
In the cultural aspect we find that there are athletes and celebrities that sometimes give the idea that they used to manifest that success before becoming successful but they also have worked after that. People might omit that idea of work and Manifest may become the only option. The word breaks the stereotypical idea of manifesting the things.
In everyday life I have observed that due to the excessive use of social media people are becoming more lethargic. They believe so easily in the information they receive on the Whats app or any other social media platform. There are more uses of Ai and with that people believe that they know everything, whereas the Ai that helps them in doing certain tasks. So the over reliance on technology has made people more lazy, it has decreased their attention span and it has also harmed their mental capacity.
With the context of the word Manifest, I have observed there are several messages that are shared throughout the groups about being positive and achieving success. That sometimes is related to the idea of religion. In which it is believed that we should only pray to god and he? She will do all the magic. However in reality as we find one has to work also.
Through some movie sand love stories also have given the wings to these type of ideas. Dialogues like “Jab tum kisi cheez ko shiddat se chaho toh puri kayanat tumhe usko pane me madad karti hai” shows the spread of the wrong idea. That will make people believe that the universe is helping them but there is no such thing that helps us in our lives.
These words make us question whether we are also under the influence of such impact. Manifest alarms ud from the pseudo scientific ideas that were proven long ago. It makes us think that these types of wrong ideas may be prevalent in society. Brain Root word makes us think to rethink our actions. Are we brain rot? Is it happening around us? Is there anyone who is under the influence of misinformation? We start to question the information that comes to us everyday. We start applying our brain in various activities.
While we communicate we come across various ideas and saying that are wrong we start to question the ideas and before sharing any information we try to cross check before and then share it.
Words: 907
References:
Barad, Dilip. “Brain Rot and Manifest.” Brain Rot and Manifest, 1 Jan. 1970, blog.dilipbarad.com/2024/12/brain-rot-and-manifest.html. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
The Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year 2024, dictionary.cambridge.org/editorial/word-of-the-year. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
“Oxford Word of the Year 2024.” Oxford University Press, 2 Dec. 2024, corp.oup.com/word-of-the-year/. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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