Hello and welcome to The English
We Speak. I'm Feifei... err Rob,
could we have your
attention please?
... oh sorry, Feifei, I was just looking at
the news on my smartphone.
Now is not the time to be looking at the
news - we are presenting a programme.
I know, but there's so much news
to look at and it's all very very...
... depressing? Yes, there has been a lot of
depressing news recently,
but you seem addicted
to it.
Look at this! Did you know
we are all going to die... some day?
Enough doomscrolling, Rob!
What's that?
'Doomscrolling' describes continuously
scrolling through endless bad news
stories on your smartphone
app, on social media or on the internet.
It happens a lot during the coronavirus
pandemic. And you're obsessed, Rob -
you just can't stop reading
information that
depresses you.
OK, OK - I'll try and find some more positive
news while we hear some examples...
I've been doomscrolling too much and
read so much information
about coronavirus that
I can't sleep at night.
Stop doomscrolling! If you read too much
bad news you'll get depressed.
My brother does too much doomsurfing -
he loves to tell us the latest
gloom and doom
in the world, so we've stopped
listening to him!
This is The English We Speak from BBC
Learning English and we're talking
about doomscrolling -
also called doomsurfing.
That's endlessly looking at depressing
news stories on your
smartphone app, on social media or the
internet. I think it's time we had
some good news stories, Rob.
Yes - and I think I've got one.
Look, a kitten that went missing
has been found...
Sweet!
...and look at this - new research says
biscuits don't make you fat...
and look at this story...
OK, Rob. Is there a word for endlessly
looking at good news stories?
Joyscrolling? Happyscrolling?
Well, it's good to see you smiling again.
Well, we all need something to smile
about after the events of this year.
I agree. Bye.
Bye bye.