Hello, lovely.
I'm Maria.
And I'm 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 a look at how a super native speaker would answer some of the most common IELTS speaking questions, using gorgeous grammar and quality vocabulary for a high score.
Which score, Rory?
A band nine score.
Dear listener, we have Instagram and Telegram, success with IELTS.
Check it out to see some of the behind the scenes stuff.
You can help us decide what topics to cover in our next episodes.
Oh, it's funny because today we're gonna talk about social media.
Oh yeah.
Rory, which social media websites do you use?
I think I use all of the normal ones, like Instagram and VK and Facebook.
It's really just for promotional and work purposes, though.
I'm not using them seriously at all.
How much time do you spend on social media?
I try not to spend too much time on social media, so maybe like one or two hours a day maximum, I think.
It's important not to waste time and of course, you've got to be careful you don't become addicted to social media, because it can make you anxious if you're on there posting things and you don't get any replies for a while.
So it's important that you don't mess up your brain chemistry as well.
What kind of information about yourself have you put on social media?
It's pretty run-of-the-mill stuff, to be honest.
It's just personal details like my name, obviously, and then where I work.
I also added a few pictures about my life and well, a few pictures that sort of showcase my life, as it were, but there's nothing too personal.
It's important for something to look professional as well as just have professional details.
Do you have your birthday?
I don't know.
I put my birthday in with the sign up information, but I don't know if it shows when my birthday is on my social media or not.
Are you updating your status?
No, I don't believe in status updates.
I think you know, if I have something interesting to post then I'll post it, but most of the time I just prefer to let people come and talk to me about what's happening.
It's less about seeking attention and more about having genuine conversations with people.
Dear listeners, just to make it clear, Rory has joined social media.
It was when, Rory?
When did you join?
Two months ago?
No, no, I joined social media about two weeks ago, to be honest with you.
By the time this podcast goes out, it's probably going to be, what, three weeks?
Four?
So, Rory has been on social media for three weeks now.
Wow, that's an achievement.
Before that, he didn't used to have any social media.
He was Facebook-less, Instagram-less.
So, right, Rory?
Yeah.
And the question is why?
Why did you deprive yourself of all social media possible?
I don't like social media.
And the only reason I got social media was it was a more effective way to stay in touch with people.
And even then I doubt that.
And the second, like even the main reason to be honest with you was so I could promote my book.
I'm just, and it's not even that serious.
I'm just having fun with different promotional activities that I can do.
I'm not really invested in this process at all.
But was it difficult for you to go from zero with like no social media whatsoever, and have all the social media?
Not so far been more difficult to create an advertising campaign, to be honest with you, because I had to organize everything in advance and that's not going so well.
But to actually have access to all of the different kinds of social media, not so much.
Is there anything you don't like about social media?
Yes, everything.
I don't like how people virtue signal.
I don't like how people spread fake news.
I don't like how people misrepresent their lives.
It's designed to do this.
It's designed so that you show the best parts of your life, but no one actually sees how you got there and everyone just assumes like oh, this person has an amazing life because they just post all of these positive pictures.
But the thing is, It's not because they don't post the pictures of the hard work that it took to get there.
And I'm also not sure that all of the increased contact and connectivity that seem to be the advantages are worth it, to be honest, if that's the price that you have to pay.
What kind of chatting apps do people use in your country?
I don't know if...
If it's any different from anywhere else except for China.
Maybe I think they use a totally different system.
But WhatsApp seems to be the most common.
WhatsApp, please pay us for advertising.
Just because it's encrypted, safe, reliable, and it's pretty user-friendly, to be honest.
So I think all of these things contribute to it being quite a commonplace thing.
How often are you on WhatsApp?
I think Every hour.
Well, I always have the app open but I turn off my notifications.
So in some ways I'm on it all the time but at the same time maybe I only spend like an hour, like collectively, I spend an hour maximum on it.
And is your time spent on social media increasing?
Well, yes, because any increase on zero is an increase.
But it's not taken over my life just yet.
He's using it more and more, dear listeners.
Rory has just entered the dark side.
Is it easy to find real friends on social networks?
I don't think so.
I think face-to-face contact is better with real people that you have real stories and adventures with.
There are probably some exceptions to this rule.
Like some, people play video games online with people.
But I think real world friendships are more legitimate, to be honest, in the grand scheme of things.
Maybe if you're doing something together online, even if you haven't met the people, then it's okay.
But just like adding people to social media or following people on social media just because if you've never met them before is a bit strange for me.
Rory, thank you very much for your confession.
Now, let's take a look at some words and grammar you've just used.
So, Rory, what do you say on social media, in social media, at?
No, on social media for all of these things.
Like, are you on social media?
What do you do on social media?
What's on your social media?
On Facebook, on Instagram.
Yeah, on.
Because the same kind of on the internet, right?
So, find information on the internet.
Online, on the internet.
We can get addicted to social media, right?
Yeah.
And some of us are addicted, pretty much.
Are you addicted to social media?
Nah, nah.
Some people are though.
It's worrying, seriously.
You know they spend more time on social media, sort of accessing a virtual life that isn't real, rather than engaging with the real world.
That's really worrying.
Even though people are listening to us on the internet, at least we're real people and You know, people know that we're not perfect.
They see the gag reels and the bloopers all the time.
So we can also be addicted to what?
To cigarettes?
I don't know.
I consider cigarettes and coffee to be quite necessary.
No, no.
Yeah, you can be addicted to cigarettes.
It's like if you need something in order to function or you feel you need something in order to function.
Yeah, and we can say, like, I'm addicted to chocolate, for example, or to get addicted to something.
Or to become addicted to something.
Also, you can say become addicted to something.
We can also say get sucked in something. so you can get sucked in social media when you can't stop scrolling when you get addicted you can feel anxious it's like nervous Yes, absolutely.
Although anxiety is a really specific form of nervousness.
You can feel nervous before you meet someone for the first time, but if you feel anxious, it's a much stronger form of fear, more prolonged anxiety.
We can feel anxious before our flight.
If you're afraid of flying.
On social media we post things, right, Rory?
What else do we do?
What else do people do on social media?
They post things, they look at each other's profiles, they see what other people have posted.
So all of this action on social media really revolves around the idea of posting different kinds of media.
You add people on your social media, right?
You follow people.
Also, you can harass people.
Some people can harass you.
Please don't harass me on social media.
Well, actually, people could harass me and I wouldn't actually know they were doing it.
Yeah, dear listeners, so Rory is a newbie.
He's quite green about all this social media.
Also it's fun that she can say like oh, I'll Facebook you or just WhatsApp me, or he's just tweeted something about you know, so you can use it as a verb.
Or I have to Instagram this.
Yes, yes.
We'll have to Instagram this.
Right, Oleg?
He tweets a lot.
Okay.
You've mentioned that social media can mess up your brain.
Yes.
What does it mean?
Well, I said it can mess up your brain chemistry.
Mess up is just to ruin or to spoil something.
Your brain releases a chemical called dopamine, which is released when you get rewards, and if that happens too much, then your body can become tolerant to it and you start needing it to well to function.
This is one of the aspects of addiction to social media that people are investigating.
So yes, it just goes to show that social media is quite dangerous and you shouldn't be overusing it, because it is seriously harming or seriously affecting your brain.
Yes, listen to Rory and do as he says.
Rory, you post run-of-the-mill stuff.
Run-of-the-mill.
Run-of-the-mill is just a phrase that means commonplace or average.
So, for example, when you post on social media...
You could have your name and your likes and dislikes.
This is all normal stuff.
So in this way it's all run-of-the-mill.
We can also say run-of-the-mill film.
Yeah.
You also post pictures which showcase your life.
Showcase, like showtime.
Well, in this case, because I'm using social media to promote my book, I picked different pictures from various places that I've taught.
So the idea is that you showcase something, you show it off, you focus on a specific aspect of something and draw lots of attention to it in order to get people interested.
So this is to showcase something.
You showcase your life, showcase a project.
I think you can have a showcase, which is just again.
It's like an event where you draw attention to something.
We can stay in touch with our friends on social media.
Also, we can say keep up with my friends, right?
So I usually keep up with my friends on social media.
You've mentioned a good one.
Virtual signaling.
Wow, that's a nice term.
It is a nice term, but it describes a really nasty behavior.
It's like when people say something on social media about how good they are, because they want to show how good they are.
You probably see this quite a lot when people talk about how...
Oh, when they say something that should be obvious, like they talk about how they're against racism and racism is bad.
And I always think that you know it should be fairly obvious that these things are bad and that no one really agrees with them.
But people somehow feel the need to tell other people this to make themselves look good.
And it's just sort of, well, first of all, it's not really, it's not very authentic.
It's not very genuine because everybody knows this.
And again, you're just doing something to get attention and show how good you are.
It's not a very positive character trait or a positive behavior to engage in, to be honest with you.
Yeah, we can say like virtuous signaling is a common trend now, right?
Oh God, yeah, especially now.
You've also mentioned fake news.
Yes.
Right, so people misrepresent their life.
Like we know the verb represent, to represent something.
So misrepresent, right, in a negative way.
We also have chatting apps.
Apps like WhatsApp.
WhatsApp is one of the chatting apps.
It's encrypted.
Encrypted?
Like safe?
It is, yeah.
Encrypted just means that it's, well, my understanding is that it's difficult.
It makes something difficult to access.
So if your communications are encrypted, only you and the person you're talking to have access to this communication.
No one else does.
I think that's A very simple version of what encryption is.
I'm sure other people who are very technical have a more detailed explanation of it.
That's a good word.
You've also said that you are using social media for promotional purposes and you are launching your advertising campaign.
Yeah.
So if you use something for promotional purposes, that just means you're using it to promote something.
In the same way, an advertising campaign is not one advertisement.
It's a sequence of adverts or a sequence of events. that are designed to promote a project or work.
So what I'm doing is I made Facebook pages for my books and I'm working on pictures for them, for Instagram, this kind of thing.
I'm proud of you, Rory.
Well, don't be too proud.
It's an amateur effort.
I'm not putting in the work that an advertising company would.
But it's fun.
It's fun to put these things together.
Yeah, so an advertising campaign, not a company, right?
And also advertising, we can have advertisements, right?
Or adverts or ads.
All these, you know, annoying ads, we can call them pop-ups.
Pop-up ads, which now appear all of a sudden on our screen.
A nice word is also unfriend.
He's just unfriended me on Facebook.
So basically removed me from his friends list.
Is that what that means?
Okay.
Yes, to unfriend, Rory.
I'm sure that this won't happen to you because no one will ever unfriend you.
Yeah, but people can hack your account, Rory, so be very careful.
How do they do that?
When you become super famous...
No, you become super famous and then people would want to hack your account.
No, surely not.
It's encrypted.
Speaking of social media, we should speak about our Patreon.
Yes, we have our Patreon.
You can become our supporter on our Patreon.
And thank you very much to those who are already our supporters there.
Stories with Rory will be exclusively on our Patreon, so go check it out.
Rory, which social media websites do you use?
I think I use all of the normal ones, like Instagram and VK and Facebook.
It's really just for promotional and work purposes, though.
I'm not using them seriously at all.
How much time do you spend on social media?
I try not to spend too much time on social media, so maybe like one or two hours a day maximum, I think.
It's important not to waste time and, of course, you've got to be careful you don't become addicted to social media, because it can well make you anxious if you're on there posting things and you don't get any replies for a while.
So it's important that you don't mess up your brain chemistry as well.
What kind of information about yourself have you put on social media?
It's pretty run-of-the-mill stuff, to be honest.
It's just personal details like my name, obviously, and then where I work.
I also added a few pictures about my life, and well, a few pictures that sort of showcase my life, as it were.
But there's nothing too personal.
It's important for something to look professional as well as just have professional details.
Do you have your birthday?
I don't know.
I put my birthday in with the sign-up information, but I don't know if it shows when my birthday is on my social media or not.
Are you updating your status?
No, I don't believe in status updates.
I think if I have something interesting to post, then I'll post it.
But most of the time, I just prefer to let people come and talk to me about what's happening.
It's less about seeking attention and more about having genuine conversations with people.
Dear listeners, just to make it clear, Rory has joined social media.
It was when, Rory?
When did you join?
Two months ago?
No, no, I joined social media about two weeks ago, to be honest with you.
By the time this podcast goes out, it's probably going to be, what, three weeks?
Four?
So, Rory has been on social media for three weeks now.
Wow, that's an achievement.
Before that, he didn't used to have any social media.
He was Facebook-less, Instagram-less.
So, right, Rory?
Yeah.
And the question is why?
Why did you deprive yourself of all social media possible?
I don't like social media.
The only reason I got social media was it was a more effective way to stay in touch with people.
And even then, I doubt that.
And the second, like even the main reason, to be honest with you, was so I could promote my book.
I'm just and it's not even that serious.
I'm just having fun with different promotional activities that I can do.
I'm not really invested in this process at all.
But was it difficult for you to go from zero with like no social media whatsoever, and have all the social media?
Not so far.
It's been more difficult to create an advertising campaign, to be honest with you, because I had to organize everything in advance and that's not going so well.
But to actually have access to all of the different kinds of social media, not so much.
Is there anything you don't like about social media?
Yes, everything.
I don't like how people virtue signal.
I don't like how people spread fake news.
I don't like how people misrepresent their lives.
It's designed to do this.
It's designed so that you show the best parts of your life, but no one actually sees how you like, how you got there, and no one, and everyone just assumes like oh, this person has an amazing life because they just post all of these positive pictures.
But the thing is, It's not because they don't post the pictures of the hard work that it took to get there.
And I'm also not sure that all of the increased contact and connectivity that seem to be the advantages are worth it, to be honest, if that's the price that you have to pay.
What kind of chatting apps do people use in your country?
I don't know if...
If it's any different from anywhere else except for China.
Maybe I think they use a totally different system.
But WhatsApp seems to be the most common.
WhatsApp, please pay us for advertising.
Just because it's encrypted, safe, reliable, and it's pretty user-friendly, to be honest.
So I think all of these things contribute to it being quite a commonplace thing.
How often are you on WhatsApp?
I think every hour.
Well, I always have the app open, but I turn off my notifications.
So in some ways I'm on it all the time.
But at the same time maybe I only spend like an hour, like collectively I spend an hour maximum on it.
And is your time spent on social media increasing?
Well, yes, because any increase on zero is an increase.
But it's not taken over my life just yet.
He's using it more and more, dear listeners.
Rory has just entered the dark side.
Is it easy to find real friends on social networks?
I don't think so.
I think face to face contact is better, with real people that you have real stories and adventures with.
There are probably some exceptions to this rule.
Like some, people play video games online with people.
But I think real world friendships are more legitimate.
To be honest, in the grand scheme of things um, maybe if you're as if you're doing something together online, even if you haven't met the people, then it's okay.
But just like adding people to social media or following people on social media just because if you've never met them before is a bit strange for me.
Thank you very much for listening.
See you on social media.
Bye.
Bye.
