Brain rot

EYES WIDE OPEN

- IRIS GONZALES

It might well be as dangerous as the COVID-19 pandemic, except this one's a slow-burn type of endemic. The symptoms linger before worsening and, before we know it, we've spiraled down to the point of no return.

It's called brain rot, and kudos to Oxford University Press for putting the spotlight on what our online universe has become — and how we've become witting or unwitting participants — and for some, enablers — in this absurd reality of our age.

Brain rot is Oxford's 2024 Word of the Year. We can only let out a heavy sigh as we feel despair over how chronically online life has turned out.

It's alarming, to say the least.

The Philippines, touted as the social media capital of the world with internet users comprising 73.4 percent of the population, might well be Patient Zero. I dread to imagine the level of ignorance and stupidity that will descend upon this country a few years from now. As it is now, we already have a grave crisis in education.

Results of the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment, which covered 690,000 students from 81 countries, showed the Philippines' standing in three subjects — reading, math and science — "were about the same" as in 2018.

In 2018, the country scored the lowest in reading (340) and second lowest in math (353) and science (357). For 2022, the country scored 347 in reading, 355 in math and 356 in science. (PIDS, June 2024).

What is brain rot?