Name: What does 'doomscrolling' mean? - The English We Speak
Uploaded: 2026-01-06T21:01:20.000Z
Duration: 2 min 31 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Hello and welcome to the English we speak.

Modal verbs - A2

Rob, could we have your attention, please?

I was just looking at the news on my smartphone.

Now is not the time to be looking at the news.

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.

Did you know we're all going to die someday?

Doomscrolling describes continuously scrolling through endless bad news stories on your smartphone app,

It happens a lot during the coronavirus pandemic.

You just can't stop reading information that depresses you.

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.

If you read too much bad news, you'll get depressed.

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.

Look, a kitten that went missing has been found.

New research says biscuits don't make you fat.

OK, Rob, is there a word for endlessly looking at good news stories?

Well, it's good to see you smiling again.

Well, we all need something to smile about after the events of this year.

Subtitles ListPlay Video

What does 'doomscrolling' mean? - The English We Speak

present

pandemic

positive

describe