A Decade of "Words of the Year" - Breakpoint

Summary5 min read

Episode Overview

Title: A Decade of "Words of the Year"
Podcast: Breakpoint by the Colson Center
Date: December 8, 2025
Host: John Stonestreet
Guest & Featured Speaker: Abdu Murray

This episode takes an insightful look at the Oxford University Press's Words of the Year from 2016 to 2025, examining how each word reflects major shifts in culture and identity. Through the lens of a Christian worldview, Abdu Murray explores the idea of a "reality collapse"—the growing disconnect from objective truth, fueled by algorithms, outrage, and the culture of online performance. Ultimately, Murray points to Christianity’s vision of identity as an antidote to today’s performative and reactionary culture.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Significance of Oxford's "Word of the Year"

Each year since 2004, Oxford University Press has chosen a Word of the Year reflecting trends in language and, more deeply, the state of culture ([00:09]).
According to Abdu Murray, these annual selections serve as a "cultural MRI, a snapshot of what society fears, desires, and obsesses over" ([00:25]).

Mapping a Decade of Words (2016–2025)

1. 2016 – Post-Truth

Marked a cultural shift: "The moment feelings began to outweigh facts."
- "Post-Truth was not about sloppy thinking, but a declaration of near divine autonomy. If truth is whatever I feel most intensely, reality becomes something I generate, not something I discover." ([00:41])

2. 2017 – Youthquake

Symbolized the surge of youthful activism aiming to "shake the social and political order."
The generation associated with Post-Truth and Youthquake is now older, but they “have bequeathed a landscape where reality collapse has accelerated” ([01:10]).

3. 2022 – Goblin Mode

Encapsulated "a cultural embrace of laziness, a retreat from discipline and ambition, a far cry from Youthquake" ([01:32]).
Marked the move from activism to escapism.

4. 2023 – Riz

Described as "performative charisma, identity as performance crafted for an algorithmic audience" ([01:39]).

5. 2024 – Brainrot

Refers to the effects of "endless scrolling, dopamine baiting feeds, and digital passivity" on young minds ([01:47]).
Emphasized “the promise of Youthquake's energy had given way to devices shaping cognition, fragmenting attention and eroding mental resilience” ([01:54]).

6. 2025 – Rage Bait (Winner) & Aura Farming (Runner-Up)

Rage Bait: "Content that provokes anger to keep people in line with their group's ideologies and online to perpetuate them. Exaggeration or outright falsehoods bait us to believe the world is perpetually at war, conditioning us to view disagreement as insanity and nuance as betrayal" ([02:04]).
Aura Farming: Highlights the pressure to “cultivate a curated self image online... Farming is the right word. The image must be sown, tended and harvested. It is pressure to constantly self create where authenticity is measured in likes, shares and comments” ([02:31]).

Synthesis: Algorithms, Outrage Engines, and Self-Creation

Reality collapse: Young people live “in a perpetual state of construction and reaction, as if their worth and reality depend entirely on their ability to perform, provoke and curate” ([02:59]).
“Rage bait hijacks perception externally, while aura farming enslaves the self internally. One distorts the world; the other distorts identity” ([02:43]).

The Christian Counter-Narrative & Restoration

Christianity offers a different story: "Our identity is not something we must endlessly manufacture; rather it is bestowed. Humans are created in God's image which carries inherent dignity, creativity, and capacity for authentic relationship” ([03:22]).
Quote:
- “The God given image frees us from the tyranny of being defined by our curated presences, our reactions to outrage or the attention economy. We are defined by the One who made us” ([03:31]).
Truth is not a feeling: "Truth is a person. Jesus is the ultimate anchor for reality, unchanging, compassionate and authoritative. He validates our feelings by bringing them into alignment with what actually is. He calls us to see the world as it is, not as the algorithms present it" ([03:45]).

The Warning: Lessons from a Decade

"The last decade of Words of the Year teaches us that when we try to feel our way into truth, our reality collapses. When we allow algorithms, outrage or curated self performance to define reality, we fragment into rage, passivity and distortion" ([04:07]).
The hopeful close: "Anchored in that reality, we are free to see clearly, think independently and act with integrity. We are not mere brains to be conditioned. We are image bearers called to resist the collapse grounded in the one Truth who studies us" ([04:38]).

Memorable Quotes & Notable Moments

Abdu Murray on the intent behind "Post-Truth":
- "Post-Truth was... a declaration of near divine autonomy. If truth is whatever I feel most intensely, reality becomes something I generate, not something I discover." ([00:46])
On social media’s influence:
- "Goblin mode... captured a cultural embrace of laziness, a retreat from discipline and ambition, a far cry from Youthquake" ([01:32]).
On identity performance:
- "Performative charisma, identity as performance crafted for an algorithmic audience." ([01:39])
On curated identity:
- "Aura farming... the image must be sown, tended and harvested. It is pressure to constantly self create where authenticity is measured in likes, shares and comments." ([02:31])
The promise of Christian understanding:
- "Our identity is not something we must endlessly manufacture, rather it is bestowed. Humans are created in God's image which carries inherent dignity, creativity and capacity for authentic relationship." ([03:22])
Closing reassurance:
- "We are not mere brains to be conditioned. We are image bearers called to resist the collapse" ([04:37]).

Timestamps for Important Segments

00:09–00:25 — Introduction to Oxford's Word of the Year & its cultural role
00:25–01:25 — Abdu Murray breaks down the Words of the Year from 2016–2017 ("Post-truth", "Youthquake")
01:26–02:00 — Move into recent years: "Goblin Mode", "Riz", "Brainrot"
02:00–03:00 — Detailed look at "Rage bait" and "Aura Farming" (2025)
03:00–04:30 — Christian worldview as a response to reality collapse
04:30–05:16 — Concluding hopes and affirmation of identity in Christ

Summary Flow and Tone

The episode combines cultural analysis with spiritual insight. Abdu Murray's tone is both incisive and hopeful, diagnosing the problems of algorithm-shaped reality, performance-driven identity, and manufactured outrage, while offering the grounding assurance of Christian truth and identity. The structure flows naturally from defining the problem (cultural "reality collapse" and its linguistic markers) to prescribing a solution anchored in God’s unchanging image and truth.

Final Thoughts

If you missed the episode, this summary captures Murray and Stonestreet’s urgent message: The last decade of popular words points to deep identity crises and societal fragmentation—yet the Christian worldview offers restoration, dignity, and truth not dictated by digital trends or fleeting feelings. Dating each word’s era, illustrating social shifts, and offering hope, it’s a thought-provoking listen for Christians wrestling with cultural change.

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Transcript5 lines

[00:01]
A
Welcome to breakpoint, a daily look at an ever changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stonestreet.
[00:09]
Each year since 2004, Oxford University Press has chosen a Word of the Year based on usage, compiled from news sources across the English speaking world. Today, speaker and author Abdu Murray describes how words reflect and explain culture.
[00:25]
B
Here's Abdu Oxford's annual Word of the Year is more than a linguistic curiosity. It's a cultural mri, a snapshot of what society fears, desires and obsesses over. Looking at the winners from 2016 through 2025 reveals a decade long narrative of what has been called reality collapse, a decreasing ability to perceive the world directly, unmediated by algorithms, outrage engines, and the gravitational pull of our own preferences. The trend started with the 2016 Word of the Year, Post Truth capturing the moment when feelings began to outweigh facts. Post Truth was not about sloppy thinking, but a declaration of near divine autonomy. If truth is whatever I feel most intensely, reality becomes something I generate, not something I discover. This was the initial push down the cultural descent into curated unreality. A year later came youthquake, the idea that a surge of young people could shake the social and political order. It captured the energy of those convinced they could reshape society through activism. But the youth who embodied the Post Truth youthquake are now nearly 10 years older. The generation that helped define Post Truth and Youthquake has bequeathed a landscape where reality collapse has accelerated. The Words of the Year that followed, utilized by the successors to the Millennials, were eerily accurate reflections of the ecosystems millennials built in 2022, Goblin mode was the word of the Year. It captured a cultural embrace of laziness, a retreat from discipline and ambition, a far cry From Youthquake. In 2023, Riz emerged, reflecting performative charisma, identity as performance crafted for an algorithmic audience. In 2024, Brainrot admitted what many had long endless scrolling dopamine baiting feeds and digital passivity were hollowing out young minds. The promise of youthquake's energy had given way to devices shaping cognition, fragmenting attention and and eroding mental resilience. Then came 2025, and the language of reality collapse became even more precise. The winner. Rage bait describes content that provokes anger to keep people in line with their group's ideologies and online to perpetuate them. Exaggeration or outright falsehoods bait us to believe the world is perpetually at war, conditioning us to view disagreement as insanity and nuance as betrayal. This year's runner up, Aura Farming, reflects a subtler but equally pervasive phenomenon. Young people are striving to cultivate a curated self image online, an aura that requires effort to maintain, polish and present. Farming is the right word. The image must be sown, tended and harvested. It is pressure to constantly self create where authenticity is measured in likes, shares and comments. Rage bait hijacks perception externally, while while aura farming enslaves the self internally, one distorts the world, the other distorts identity. In both cases, young people are made to live in a perpetual state of construction and reaction, as if their worth and reality depend entirely on their ability to perform, provoke and curate. Christianity offers a liberating counter narrative which may account for why we're seeing surges in Bible sales and downloads. The Bible insists that our identity is not something we must endlessly manufacture, rather it is bestowed. Humans are created in God's image which carries inherent dignity, creativity and capacity for authentic relationship. The God given image frees us from the tyranny of being defined by our curated presences, our reactions to outrage or the attention economy. We are defined by the One who made us. We are free to discover once again, truth in this framework is not a subjective feeling or a self fashioned projection. Truth is a person. Jesus is the ultimate anchor for reality, unchanging, compassionate and authoritative. He validates our feelings by bringing them into alignment with what actually is. He calls us to see the world as it is, not as the algorithms present it. He invites us to resist the cognitive and emotional conditioning of brain rotation, aura farming and rage bait. The last decade of Words of the Year teaches us that when we try to feel our way into truth, our reality collapses. When we allow algorithms, outrage or curated self performance to define reality, we fragment into rage, passivity and distortion. But when we anchor ourselves in the reality of God's image, we reclaim the capacity for thoughtful engagement, creativity and authentic relationships both with him and with others who share that image. Anchored in that reality, we are free to see clearly, think independently and act with integrity. We are not mere brains to be conditioned. We are image bearers called to resist the collapse grounded in the one Truth who studies us.
[05:16]
A
That was Abdu Murray. Today's commentary was adapted from his forthcoming book Fake How AI and Identity Ideology are Collapsing Reality and and what to Do About It. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stonestreet. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, please leave us a review wherever you download your podcast and for a version of today's commentary that you can download and share with others, go to breakpoint.org.
[05:43]
C
Hello, my name is Scott Miller and I have the privilege of serving as Vice President of Finance at the Colson Center. As we approach the end of the year, I want to thank you for standing with us in this mission. Because of your generosity, countless believers are being equipped with a strong biblical worldview. You and that work continues into 2026. Did you know there are ways to give beyond cash or check? Many partners choose to give through stock securities or a donor advised fund which can also provide tax benefits. Every gift, no matter the form, helps us share truth and hope in a culture that desperately needs it. If you'd like to make this kind of gift, please ensure it reaches us by December 31st. Just email us@advanceolsoncenter.org that's advancementolsoncenter.org thank you for making Kingdom Work possible. From all of us at the Colson center, have a blessed and Merry Christmas.