Over the past 12 months, the words brainrot and manifest have ruled my TT feed, IG algorithm and even crept into my group chats. And it’s not just me as Cambridge Dictionary announced brainrot as the official word of 2024, while Oxford Dictionary chose manifest. At first, they seem the polar opposite, one poking fun at the realness of consuming nothingness content, the other a call for us to dream big.
I hold my hands up: I am a doom scroller. I’ve lost hours watching pointless prank vids, purposeless home renovation time-lapses, goofy dance routines and sharing memes, only to feel empty and guilty about the pointlessness of it all. Brainrot isn’t just a word; it is our collective cry for help. It captures the chaos of us being plugged in 24/7, overstimulated and unfulfilled. Yet, our self-awareness is there, we’ve turned brainrot into a meme, joking about our own exhaustion.
Sitting opposite brainrot, is manifest. Something that used to be touted as ‘woo-woo’, has gone mainstream thanks to trends such as lucky girl syndrome, vision boarding and affirmations filling our feeds. For me, it’s nothing new – I’ve been tapped into visualisation, (attempting to) surrender to the universe and have been practicing gratitude ever since I first read Rhonda Bryne’s The Secret 13 years ago. Manifesting is all about reclaiming a sense of control, finding small joys, reaching for the stars and everything in between – to many it’s a remind that hope can be an action, not just an emotion and that we need to log off and tune into ourselves.
These two words may seem the total opposite; burnout vs ambition. But the more I’ve thought about it they go hand-in-hand. Brainrot is the digital fatigue we all suffer from when navigating social media, which can be a playground that often turns into a battleground. Manifest, is the clarity we crave. Manifesting isn’t magic – it’s about taking that first step to creating the life you want. We are fighting with a world moving a million miles a minute to trying to find moments of calm and stillness.
Don’t feel too guilty consuming brainrotting content – it doesn’t define us. Our collective awareness makes me think that it’s nudging us towards a reset. While the noise of the world continues to overwhelm, the power to dream is always louder.
The latest issue of Cosmopolitan Middle East is out now! Read the cover story here.