Neil: Hello. This is 6 Minute English and
I'm Neil. And joining me today is Rob.
Rob: Hello.
Neil: Rob, how do feel about shopping?
Rob: Urgh! Mooching around a
shopping mall from one shop to another,
spending money - it's
my idea of hell!
Neil: How about shopping online?
Rob: Ah yes, much better - sitting
in front of the TV and browsing
online is much easier.
Neil: Well that can be a problem - it's
sometimes too easy, especially
when we are tired - and
we sometimes make purchases
we regret. That's what we'll be
talking about in this programme
- an activity known as 'vampire shopping'.
But before we continue, it's my job to set
you a quiz question,
so here goes. According to the UK's
Office for National Statistics,
at the end of 2018, what percentage of
all retail sales took place online? Was it...
a) 9.8%, b) 19.8%, or c) 29.8%?
Rob: Buying things online is
big business now, so I'll say c) 29.8%.
Neil: Well, you'll have to wait a bit to find
out. But let's talk more now about vampire
shopping - this term refers to
shopping late at night - traditionally
a time when vampires appear.
Rob: Most of us are asleep at
this time but sleep-deprived parents,
shift-workers and
gamers might not be. If you're
an insomniac - someone who can't
sleep easily - it's tempting
to open up your laptop
and start shopping.
Neil: Online shops are open
24 hours a day so it's easy to get sucked in
and do some shopping!
Rob: When you get sucked into
something it means you can't stop
yourself getting involved
with something that you didn't want to do.
So what you're saying, Neil,
is at night, when
we're very tired, we don't always
think straight and can make
some bad decisions.
Neil: That's right. And this
shopping temptation can be
particularly problematic for those
with mental health issues.
It's something Helen Undy has been
talking about on the BBC
Radio 4 programme, You and Yours.
She is the Chief Executive of
the Money and Mental Health
Institute. Let's hear what she had to say...
Helen Undy: Our ability to control
our impulse to spend and to resist
things like advertising
is reduced when we're sleep deprived.
Well mental health problems
can have a similar effect so
the mental health problems themselves
make it harder to resist the urge to spend
and they also cause sleep deprivation, so
you're alone possibly surfing the internet,
and both the lack of sleep
and the mental health problems
make it harder to resist the things
that you can see.
Neil: Helen said that for all us,
when we're sleep deprived - that
means not having enough
sleep - we find it harder to resist
the urge to shop. We're more
sucked in to shopping
by the advertising we see.
Rob: And resist the urge means
stop yourself acting on a strong
feeling to do something.
But this is more serious for people
with mental health issues.
They are particularly sleep
deprived and along with everything that's
going on in their minds, they find it harder
to resist - to stop themselves
buying things.
Neil: I suppose buying things at night,
if you're alone, gives you
some comfort - even
a feel-good factor - doing something
that gives someone a happy
and positive feeling.
I certainly feel good when
I've bought something. But Rob, have you
ever bought something you regret?
Rob: Yes. Bits of tech, even flight tickets
to somewhere I didn't really want to go to
- because they were cheap!
Neil: Regret is a sad feeling
you get when you've made a mistake
and wished you hadn't
made the mistake in the first place.
We all have regrets, Rob,
particularly when buying
things - but there's usually the option to
return something and get a refund.
Rob: That's true but it's not always easy.
Let's hear what Helen Undy
had to say about that.
Helen Undy: We found in our research
that 75% of people, so
regardless of whether you've
got a mental health problem or not -
three-quarters of people
didn't send back the last
thing they bought online that they
regretted. We found that 4 in 10 people
with mental health problems didn't
send things back because they were so
ashamed of the things that they were
buying that they just wanted
to pretend it never happened.
Neil: So, she says that three-quarters of
people didn't send back the last thing they
bought that they regretted.
Maybe they were too embarrassed?
Rob: Possibly. But it's not always
easy to return an item and
for those with mental health
issues it can be a struggle,
a great effort. Helen Undy says that
sometimes they were ashamed
of their purchase.
Neil: Well I think we have all
bought things we are ashamed of.
But while online shopping
continues to expand the
temptation will always be there.
Rob: Well your question earlier was about
the rise in online shopping, so what's the
answer, Neil?
Neil: I asked according to the UK's Office
for National Statistics, at the end of 2018,
what percentage of all retail sales
took place online? Was it... a) 9.8%,
b) 19.8%, or c) 29.8%?
Rob: I said c) 29.8%. I've got to be right!
Neil: Well, you're not. The rise was a bit
smaller at b) 19.8%. But that's still large
compared with ten years previously,
when the figure was just 5.8%
of all retail sales.
Rob: No doubt the figure will continue to
rise. And before I nip off to do a bit of
vampire shopping, let's recap
some of the vocabulary we've
mentioned today. Starting
with insomniac.
Neil: An insomniac is someone
who can't sleep easily. They suffer
from insomnia.
Rob: Next we talked about to get
sucked into something.
This informal phrase means not
being able to stop yourself
getting involved with something
that you don't want to do.
Neil: If you are sleep deprived, you do not
having enough sleep.
Rob: And if you resist the urge, you stop
yourself acting on a strong feeling to do
something. For example,
resisting the urge to buy
something online.
Neil: But if you don't resist the urge to
buy something, it might
have a feel-good factor.
A feel-good factor is something that
makes you feel happy and positive.
Rob: But after buying something
you may have regret. That's a
sad feeling you get when
you've made a mistake and
wished you hadn't made the mistake
in the first place.
Neil: Well hopefully you haven't
regretted spending 6 minutes
listening to us! Please join us next time
and in the meantime, why not check us
out on your favourite social
media platforms and on our app.
Rob: Goodbye!
Neil: Goodbye!