Hello lovely, I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory and we are the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success Podcast.
The podcast that aims to help you improve your speaking skills as well as your listening
skills along the way.
We started this podcast to give you gorgeous grammar and super vocabulary for your high
IELTS score.
Your bandline score.
Rory.
Rory.
Oh, sorry Maria.
I was messaging someone on Instagram.
Oh, you're always on social media, Rory.
I know.
I know.
Shall we talk about social media?
Oh, let's talk about social media.
What a coincidence, do you listen, huh?
Do like using social media.
I mean, I find it useful and efficient, but I wouldn't say I like it.
For example, I use Telegram and WhatsApp and Facebook for staying in touch with people.
But in general, it seems to create this bizarre sense of entitlement where people think
that they should be able to get a hold of you whenever they want to and don't really
like that art of it at all.
When did you start using social media?
Well, probably when I was a teenager, I was using sites like Myspace and MSI, well,
at chatrooms on MSN.
But I think I only really became a serious user in the, what, the early 2020s.
And that's when I started to use things like Instagram to make social media posts in
order to promote things.
Do you spend too much time on social media?
Well, I mean, who decides what too much means?
There are probably times when I'm on it and I would be better off doing other things,
or I could be better off doing other things.
But I mean, rarely am I just sitting there scrolling through Reels on Instagram for hours
on end or just doom scrolling Twitter.
So I suppose it's not as bad as other people.
There are times when I can get distracted, but I've got some very forgiving friends, so
it's not such a big deal for me.
What do you do on social media?
The same things as other people really.
I post updates and comment on things, I find interesting.
So I think most of the time I'm just browsing and replying to messages, so I'm probably
not as active a user as other people in that regard.
We have our super premium episodes for you where Rory and I are discussing Speaking
Part 2 and 3 and giving you more super grammar and vocabulary.
This week on our premium in Speaking Part 2, Rory is describing a useful object in his
home.
Okay, and in Speaking Part 3, we are talking about gadgets and technology.
We are using fresh IOT speaking topics.
Do check them out.
The link is in the description.
Social media, do listen now.
We mean Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube.
Whatever you have, these are all social media platforms.
They are useful and efficient.
So they are efficient.
You write a message and it sent right away.
And your friend reads it like, efficient.
And we use social media to stay in touch with friends.
So to stay in touch, to stay in contact, to talk to them.
So stay in touch with my friends, my relatives and random strangers.
You stay in touch with random strangers?
Well, on social media, you don't know this person, but kind of you talk?
Oh yeah, there are lots of people like that.
It's really weird now.
What preposition should we use with WhatsApp or Telegram or Instagram?
Well, it's on the internet.
So it should be on WhatsApp or on Telegram.
What in?
So I stay in touch with my friends on Telegram, on WhatsApp, on Instagram.
What did you mean by bizarre sense of entitlement?
Oh, I love that expression.
I'm going to use it more to be honest with you.
So, well, a bizarre sense of entitlement just means it's an unusual feeling or right people
think they have to do something, but it's not really normal.
So in the case of social media, people have this bizarre sense of entitlement to your time
where if they send you a message, they expect to respond immediately.
This is not all people, but they treat it like it's a conversation that they're having.
So because they've sent you a message, they expect one back, like you would have in
a face-to-face conversation.
But that's not how this works because of course people are busy and they have things
to do and so they're not able to reply immediately.
However, a lot of the time sometimes people message each other and they think they should
get this reply, which is a very bizarre sense of entitlement.
Entitlement is negative, so disapproving against the feeling that you have the right to do
or to have something you want without doing any work.
Okay?
It's just like possessiveness.
Yeah, it's funny though, because as a verb, entitled just means that something
you have a right to, for example, like you're entitled to a lawyer in court in many countries.
That's not a negative thing because you're defending yourself.
So it's just this idea with the collocation, the bizarre sense of entitlement or just a
sense of entitlement or even entitlement.
So people on social media feel that they can get a hold of you, so they can just like
reach you at any time during day or night and you have to respond, okay?
People can get a hold of you like at any moment.
It's very funny, especially when someone contacts you from the other side of the world and
you're like, why are you not replied to me?
And the answer is usually, well, I'm unconscious because I'm asleep, so it's not always possible.
I started using social media last year when I was at school or you can say,
that I used to use chat rooms, a rory mentions of like my space, MSN,
or...
Did you have my space, Maria?
No.
No, I think it's a uniquely sort of Western phenomenon, especially in the use of many millennial
people.
So my space was just a precursor or something that came before Facebook and lots of teenagers
were on there creating their own profiles and things like that.
I became a serious user, like a user of social media, I became a serious user 10 years ago.
Yeah, and I started using like Facebook Instagram, for example, or I started posting things
on Facebook Instagram, so started doing something and you post things on Instagram or Facebook.
If the examiner asks you a question about, do you spend too much time or do you do something
too much, you can use Rory's strategy.
Rory goes, who decides what too much means?
So what does it mean too much?
You know, too much for me is different too much for you, and too much for Rory, we don't
know how much is too much for Rory.
To understand?
I understand, but as everyone else understands, that's the key thing.
But yeah, too much is a very subjective thing.
It's done to your personal experience of the world.
I mean, I don't know, people might say that I too much meat, for example, but I like
to eat meat, so it's not too much for me.
Same thing for social media.
And the question is like, do you spend too much time on social media and you answered,
I'm on it.
On it refers to social media, right?
So media is it.
Or I'm on the app, anyway, but the idea is that you're using it.
Sometimes I would be better off doing something else, a Serenius phrase, so I would be better
off studying, or I would be better off working, or I would be better off doing sports.
And why is it doing after the phrase?
Because this is super important, especially if you want to score over a band six on your
IELTS.
I don't know.
Good bye.
It's a preposition.
So usually, when you have the preposition, it's the ING form.
Do you not remember this?
Or really?
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
So it's going to like, I gave up over reading, or I took up doing yoga.
Oh, okay.
But yeah, but not always after prepositions use ING.
Not always, but usually.
Very often.
Okay.
Okay, sweet.
Social media could be a distraction.
Okay.
Popular distraction to get distracted.
Okay.
From your boredom, when you feel bored, you should get distracted.
And you see to there scrolling delisuna.
So you scroll through Instagram.
Hmm.
So you just like, sit there on your phone doing that.
I can't show you this with a phone because I'm you've gong up my phone now.
Yeah, you just scroll with your finger.
Well, your thumb?
With your thumb.
Yeah, with your ear.
Or in Russian, your big thumb, your big finger, sorry.
Yeah.
So I just sit there doing something.
I just sit there scrolling through wheels on Instagram.
Or just like I sit there scrolling through Instagram posts.
And also Roy, you said, um, doom scrolling.
What's doom scrolling?
DOOM scrolling is a thing.
And it's where you sit, usually on Twitter.
And you just look through all the bad news and become slowly more and more depressed about
how horrible the world is.
So yes, doom scrolling is a bad habit, but just continuing to scroll binge scrolling
possibly on Instagram.
Not a good thing to do.
Yeah, actually doom scrolling is on Cambridge online dictionary.
So doom scrolling humorous.
Humorous.
Humor, you know, the activity of spending a lot of time looking at your phone.
Okay, delisuna or computer or reading bad and negative stories.
But doom scrolling for two hours every day won't help you to become happy, for example.
Yeah.
But what will would be scrolling through our Instagram, for sure.
And you can say that sometimes I keep doom scrolling for hours on end, hours on end,
a long time.
I did that once.
I was just lying on my bed and I was looking up at my phone like, oh, it's so nice just
to look through all the wheels on Instagram.
And I think I did that for like one hour.
And I have to say it was the I felt terrible afterwards.
I did not feel productive at all.
Could you use a sentence with do scrolling and hours on end?
Well, you can scroll through Instagram for hours on end, but you could also, if you're
like reading, like I could read books for hours on end if I had the time.
Or I can play video games for hours on end.
And I do.
And that's not good.
I can watch reels on Instagram for hours on end, like for a long time.
What could you do for hours on end?
Cook.
Really?
That sounds like a lot of work.
Yeah, that's why.
Wow.
It takes a lot of time as well.
You know, like you buy the ingredients and then you kind of you look for a recipe and
then the kind of you design the menu and then you cook and then you eat and then you wash
and clean forever.
This is like Maria's getting very excited about this.
But when I think about cooking, I think, oh God, how can I make this take the lowest amount
of time possible?
People do a lot of things on social media.
Okay.
So what do you do on social media?
Do you say, oh, I, be social.
Yeah.
I post updates.
I post pictures.
I comment on different things.
So comment on things.
Okay.
I share funny memes.
I search for contacts.
I look at profiles.
Okay.
I share and post videos.
All right.
I discover interesting events.
Do you listen?
All right.
Also, I feel my spare time.
Just kill the time and I tackle boredom.
So you deal with your boredom on social media.
Also you can say that I watch live streams when people kind of like talk to your life,
live streams or I just browse and reply to messages.
So kind of like scroll, yeah, do some doom scrolling and reply to messages.
Maybe not necessarily doom scrolling.
Sometimes I just look through Instagram and then I'll see I have a message.
You can say I'm an active user or I'm not an active user.
So I don't use social media actively like all the time or I'm addicted to I use social
media all the time.
I'm addicted to social media.
Could you let us know what you do on social media?
Just write in the comments.
Okay.
Oh, Rory, I have my favorite joke.
Which social media platform do vegans dislike the most?
Google meet.
Google meet.
Sorry, all vegans really.
Oh, come on.
It's funny.
I'm sorry if you have a vegetarian, but come on.
It's funny.
So vegans dislike Google meet.
Google meet.
Stop it.
Do like using social media.
I mean, I find it useful and efficient, but I wouldn't say I like it.
For example, I use Telegram and WhatsApp and Facebook for staying in touch with people.
But in general, it seems to create this bizarre sense of entitlement where people think
that they should be able to get a hold of you whenever they want to and don't really like
that part of it at all.
When did you start using social media?
Well, probably when I was a teenager, I was using sites like Myspace and MSI, well,
chatrooms on MSN.
But I think I only really became a serious user in the early 2020s and that's when I started
to use things like Instagram to make social media posts in order to promote things.
Do you spend too much time on social media?
Well, I mean, who decides what too much means?
There are probably times when I'm on it and I would be better off doing other things,
or I could be better off doing other things.
But I mean, rarely am I just sitting there scrolling through Reels on Instagram for hours
on end or just doom scrolling Twitter.
So I suppose it's not as bad as other people.
There are times when I can get distracted, but I've got some very forgiving friends,
so it's not such a big deal for me.
What do you do on social media?
The same things as other people really.
I post updates and comment on things, I find interesting.
Although I think most of the time I'm just browsing and replying to messages, so I'm
probably not as active a user as other people in that regard.
