Brain Rot, Goblin Mode and Touch Grass: 10 Words for Life Online and What the Research Says

Start hereSome words for life online started as jokes and ended up in dictionaries. Here are 10 of them, from brain rot to touch grass, with when each was first recorded and what the research says.

Some words for life online started as jokes and ended up in dictionaries. A few were even picked as words of the year. They name things many of us notice in ourselves: scrolling bad news late at night, a day spent in bed with a phone, or feeling close to someone who has never met us.

Below are 10 of these words. Each card gives the date a dictionary records for the word, what it describes, what research exists, and something to notice. None of these words is a medical diagnosis.

01Words picked as a word of the year

Four of the words were chosen by a dictionary team as its word of the year.

1. Brain rot

Brain rot means the supposed decline of a person’s mind from taking in too much trivial content, now particularly online.

Oxford University Press made “brain rot” its Word of the Year for 2024, after a public vote in which more than 37,000 people took part. Oxford defines it as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state”, especially from too much material “considered to be trivial or unchallenging”. Its first recorded use is from 1854, in Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden. Thoreau asked whether anyone would try “to cure the brain-rot”, which he said “prevails so much more widely and fatally” than the potato rot. Oxford says use of the term rose by 230% between 2023 and 2024. It gained traction on social media, particularly on TikTok among Gen Z and Gen Alpha. In June 2025 the term was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Oxford’s own definition says “supposed”. The dictionary records how people use the word. It does not say the decline is proven.

When we searched PubMed, a database of medical research, on 13 November 2026, we found 12 records using the phrase, the earliest from 2025. One 2025 study built a “Brain Rot Scale” questionnaire and tested it on young people aged 8 to 24 in Egypt. Its three parts are named attention dysregulation, digital compulsivity and cognitive dependency.

The authors of one widely shared preprint on essay writing with ChatGPT ask people not to use words like “brain rot” about their work. Our page on critical thinking in the age of AI looks at that study.

For example, someone might call an evening of short videos “brain rot” as a joke about themselves.

Try this: After a long scroll, try to name three things you saw. It is a quick way to notice how much stayed with you.

How sure: Limited the term is new to research, and the first studies measure it with new questionnaires.

2. Goblin mode

Goblin mode means behaviour that is openly lazy, messy or self-indulgent, and ignores what others expect.

Oxford made “goblin mode” its Word of the Year for 2022, the first time it opened the choice up to a public vote. Oxford defines it as behaviour “which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations”. The term was first seen on Twitter in 2009 and went viral on social media in February 2022. Oxford says it then grew in popularity as Covid lockdown restrictions eased in many countries.

When we searched PubMed on 13 November 2026, we found no study about goblin mode.

For example, a weekend in old clothes, with cereal for dinner and unanswered messages.

Try this: Notice whether a goblin-mode day leaves you rested, or feels more like avoiding something. Only you can judge that.

How sure: Limited the meaning comes from Oxford’s dictionary team, and we found no research on the term.

3. Rage bait

Rage bait is online content made on purpose to make people angry, so that they click, comment or share.

Oxford made “rage bait” its Word of the Year for 2025. Oxford defines it as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage”, typically posted to increase traffic or engagement. The term was first used online in a 2002 Usenet post, about a driver’s reaction to being flashed by another driver who wanted to pass. Oxford says use of the word tripled in the 12 months before it was chosen.

We found no study of “rage bait” by name in PubMed, but a related study looked at which posts spread. A 2021 study of more than 2.7 million posts from US news outlets and members of Congress found that posts about the opposing political side were shared about twice as often. Each word about the other side raised the odds of a post being shared by 67%. Those words were also a very strong predictor of “angry” reactions.

So in that study, posts about “the other side” travelled further, at least among US political posts on Facebook and Twitter. Our page on the dead internet theory looks at how much of the web is made by bots and AI.

For example, a post that misstates a view you hold, worded so that you want to reply.

Try this: Before replying to a post that makes you angry, ask who gains if you reply.

How sure: Moderate a large study found the pattern, but only in US political posts; we found none on rage bait itself.

4. Parasocial

A parasocial relationship is a one-sided bond with someone you do not know personally, such as a celebrity, a streamer or a fictional character.

Cambridge Dictionary chose “parasocial” as its Word of the Year 2025. Cambridge says the term dates back to 1956, when two University of Chicago sociologists, Donald Horton and Richard Wohl, described TV viewers forming “para-social” relationships with people on screen. Their paper appeared that year in the journal Psychiatry. Cambridge’s definition covers a connection people feel with a famous person they do not know, a character, or an artificial intelligence. Merriam-Webster gives 1956 as the first known use. Dictionary.com dates “parasocial” to 1960–65.

A 2026 meta-analysis of 17 studies linked parasocial bonds with social media influencers to both better well-being and more problematic use. Its authors found the links with positive outcomes were stronger, and called parasocial engagement “a psychological double-edged sword”. Another 2026 meta-analysis of 58 studies found parasocial relationships linked with both helpful and harmful health attitudes.

Each meta-analysis here pools earlier studies. The first one’s authors call for longer-term research to show when these bonds help and when they harm.

For example, feeling you know a podcast host well after hundreds of hours of listening.

Try this: Notice which people you know only through a screen, and how much of your week they take up.

How sure: Moderate two 2026 reviews found the bonds linked with both helpful and harmful results, including on health attitudes.

02Ways of scrolling and staying in

Four more words describe habits: reading bad news, staying in bed, worrying about missing out, and looking at a phone instead of a person.

5. Doomscrolling

Doomscrolling means scrolling through bad news for a long time, even when it makes you feel worse.

Dictionary.com defines doomscrolling as obsessively checking online news “with the expectation that the news will be bad”. It dates the word to 2016. Merriam-Webster gives 2020 as the first known use of “doomscroll” in this sense. The two dictionaries give different years.

In a 2021 experiment, 2 to 4 minutes of COVID-19 news lowered people’s positive mood straight away, compared with a group that saw no news. Posts about kind acts during the pandemic did not have the same effect. A 2022 study that checked in with people daily for 30 days linked pandemic news on social media with more symptoms of depression and PTSD. The link was stronger in people with a history of more severe childhood maltreatment. The same link did not show up for traditional media. People who started with more severe symptoms also used more social media during the study, so the link may run both ways. A 2026 review that pooled earlier studies linked doomscrolling with more anxiety, depression and distress, and with lower well-being. Its authors rate the certainty of that evidence as very low, and say it does not show cause.

So in the two pandemic studies, the source and the kind of news both mattered.

For example, reading the same breaking story on three apps before bed.

Try this: When you notice you are reading the same bad news a second time, treat it as a place to stop.

How sure: Limited a short experiment, a 30-day study and a 2026 review, whose authors rate the certainty as very low.

6. Bed rotting

Bed rotting means spending long hours in bed during the day, often with a phone or snacks, as a break from activity or stress.

Dictionary.com defines it as spending many hours in bed during the day “as a voluntary retreat from activity or stress”. It dates the current sense to 2023. Merriam-Webster dates the first known use of “bed rotting” to 2021.

When we searched PubMed on 13 November 2026, we found no study of bed rotting by name. So the word describes a habit people talk about, not something researchers have measured yet.

For example, a Sunday spent in bed with a laptop and a series.

Try this: Notice whether a day in bed leaves you rested the next morning, or more tired.

How sure: Limited the dictionaries describe the habit, and we found no research on it by name.

7. FOMO

FOMO, short for “fear of missing out”, is the worry that others are having good experiences without you.

Merriam-Webster defines FOMO as “fear of not being included in something (such as an interesting or enjoyable activity) that others are experiencing”. It dates the first known use to 2004. Dictionary.com dates it to 2000–05.

A 2023 meta-analysis of 85 studies found a high positive correlation between FOMO and what the authors call mobile phone addiction. So this meta-analysis shows that FOMO and heavy phone use tend to go together, not which one causes the other.

For example, checking friends’ stories during a quiet evening at home.

Try this: Next time FOMO shows up, notice what exactly you feel you are missing.

How sure: Moderate many studies agree on the link, but they show a link, not a cause.

8. Phubbing

Phubbing means ignoring the person you are with to look at your phone.

Dictionary.com defines “phub” as ignoring a person or your surroundings in a social situation “by busying oneself with a phone or other mobile device”. It dates the word to 2010–15. The word’s etymology is in its spelling: “ph” from phone and “ub” from snub.

A 2024 meta-analysis of 27 studies, with 20,415 people in 15 countries, found phubbing linked with FOMO. The authors found the size of that link varied with location, income level and the questionnaires used.

For example, scrolling while a friend tells a story across the table.

Try this: Put the phone face down for one meal, and notice whether the talk feels different.

How sure: Moderate one meta-analysis found a link with FOMO, but its size varied a lot between studies, and it shows a link, not a cause.

03How we see ourselves online

One phrase is about how people picture their own lives.

9. Main character syndrome

Main character syndrome is a slang, often mocking, name for treating your own life as a story with you in the lead, sometimes at others’ expense. It is slang, not a medical diagnosis.

Merriam-Webster says “main character syndrome” began in the early 2010s in role-playing games, as a put-down for players who took a leading part at others’ expense. Its close relative “main character energy” spread on social media after a TikTok trend that began in May 2020. Merriam-Webster describes main character energy as an informal expression for “self-assured bearing or behavior”. Dictionary.com says the main character idea emerged on social media during 2020.

So the newer phrase describes self-assurance, while the older one began as a put-down.

When we searched the World Health Organization’s ICD-11, the international list of diagnoses, on 13 November 2026, we found no entry for it. A 2026 study built a 10-item questionnaire for it and tested it in two groups of young adults in Lebanon, of 135 and 263 people. Scores were linked with a less settled sense of identity, social media addiction and narcissism, yet stayed distinct from each of them. The authors note the idea had no tested way to measure it before their scale.

For example, filming yourself walking through a city as if it were a scene in a film.

Try this: Notice when you start framing a moment for an audience. Then decide whether you want to.

How sure: Limited one questionnaire study in one country, and the phrase is slang, not a diagnosis.

04Logging off

The last word is the one people use to suggest a way out.

10. Touch grass

“Touch grass” is a teasing way to tell someone to log off and spend time in the real world.

Merriam-Webster defines the phrase as taking part “in normal activities in the real world especially as opposed to online experiences and interactions”. It dates the first known use to 2016. Dictionary.com dates it to 2015–20, and says it is used especially to urge people to spend less time on electronic devices. Cambridge Dictionary labels it informal, and includes spending time outside in nature.

When we searched PubMed on 13 November 2026, we found no study of the phrase, but there is research on time in nature. A 2019 study of survey answers from 19,806 people in England found those who spent at least 120 minutes a week in nature were more likely to report good health and high well-being. The link peaked between 200 and 300 minutes a week, with no further gain. It did not matter whether the time came in one long visit or several shorter ones. The authors say longer-term studies and trials are a critical next step.

So this is a link from one large survey, not proof that the time outdoors caused the better health.

For example, a walk in a park during a lunch break.

Try this: Notice how you feel after time outdoors, compared with the same time online.

How sure: Moderate a large survey found the link, but a survey cannot show cause.

05What about screen time in general?

Whether screens in general harm well-being is a bigger question, and researchers disagree about it. Our Digital Minimalism summary lays out that debate and the studies on each side. Our page on the goldfish attention span claim looks at where that figure came from and what helps you focus. If you want to set limits on your own phone, our page on phone and browser settings includes Apple’s Screen Time allowances.

06If it stops feeling like a joke

These words are often used lightly, but some of the habits can come with a low mood.

The UK’s NHS says a low mood often gets better after a few days or weeks. It suggests seeing a GP if you have had a low mood for more than 2 weeks. Wherever you live, a doctor can look at your own situation.

07Where to learn more

• Oxford’s Word of the Year pages: every year’s word, with the shortlists.
• Cambridge Dictionary’s 2025 Word of the Year announcement: the story of “parasocial”.
• Merriam-Webster’s slang pages: where new internet phrases come from.
• The NHS page on low mood, sadness and depression (UK): signs, what can help, and when to see a GP.
• Our critical thinking in the age of AI page, for studies on thinking with AI tools.
• Our dead internet theory page, for how much of the web is bots and AI.
• Our Digital Minimalism summary, for the wider debate on screens and well-being.

08Quick answers

09Use this

10Quick quiz

How we checked this · Last checked November 2026

• Dates and meanings come from Oxford's Word of the Year pages, Cambridge Dictionary, Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com. Where two dictionaries give different years, the page gives both.
• The research is from studies we read as abstracts on PubMed, including five meta-analyses, one experiment, one 30-day study, one large survey and two new questionnaire studies.
• Where we found no study of a word, we searched PubMed for the phrase on 13 November 2026, and the page says so.
• Terminally online and chronically online are left out, because we found no dated dictionary entry for them.

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