Online Behavior & Expressions: English Vocabulary List

spending excessive time online, often overly immersed in internet culture

"He is terminally online."

"The terminally online teenager spent sixteen hours a day scrolling through social media feeds."

excessively absorbed in internet culture, often out of touch with real life

"She is chronically online."

"His chronically online behavior meant that he knew every meme before anyone else did."

a person who posts or shares information online without revealing their identity

"The donor wanted to be anonymouse."

"The donor gave a large sum to the charity anonymously and was simply known as Anonymouse."

someone who monitors or enforces rules on online behavior, either officially or jokingly

"The cybercop monitors online fraud."

"The cybercop monitored online forums for illegal activity and reported suspicious posts to authorities."

a Twitter user who is popular, a personal friend, or someone one is romantically interested in

"She is a tweetheart on Twitter."

"The couple met as tweethearts who flirted publicly on Twitter before dating in real life."

to find and publish someone's private information online, often with malicious intent

"Do not dox people online."

"It is illegal and dangerous to dox someone by publishing their private personal information online without their consent."

to post or act immediately before someone else in a thread, superseding their response

"He ninja looted the rare item."

"The sneaky player tried to ninja the objective while the rest of the team was fighting elsewhere."

to obsessively scroll through negative or distressing news or content online

"I doomscroll on social media nightly."

"I have a bad habit of doomscrolling through negative news on social media late at night before I go to sleep."

to continue posting online while experiencing personal distress or emotional difficulty

"She felt sad but continued to post through it on her blog."

"The influencer decided to post through it and continue sharing content even during her personal crisis."

to post in a thread that has been inactive for a long time

"Stop necroposting on old threads."

"The user was banned for necroposting on a thread that had been dead for over five years."

to post a meme online, typically for humor or social commentary

"He memeposts on Reddit daily."

"The subreddit is dedicated to memeposting and sharing funny pictures and jokes with other users."

content that is deliberately dark, shocking, or provocative, usually posted online to elicit reactions

"His edgeposting was intentionally controversial."

"His edgeposting about dark topics was just for attention and did not reflect his actual beliefs."

to appear suddenly in a conversation, thread, or event, often drawing attention

"The boss has entered the chat."

"Just as the debate got heated, the unexpected guest suddenly entered the chat and changed the entire discussion."

to snub or ignore someone by focusing on your phone instead of them

"She phubbed her boyfriend at dinner."

"She accused her boyfriend of phubbing her because he was always looking at his phone instead of paying attention to her."

a private or secondary Instagram account for sharing unfiltered content with close friends

"She posts silly things on her finsta."

"She posted silly photos on her finsta where only close friends could see her real life."

an ironic slogan used to mock toxic, manipulative, or self-serving behavior framed as empowerment

"The meme joked about gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss."

"The internet meme gaslight gatekeep girlboss describes a certain type of controversial feminist behaviour online."

to kill, often used on social media as a euphemism to avoid censorship of death-related terms

"The character was unalived in the show."

"The video game character was unalived by the final boss in the dramatic ending cutscene."

to catch someone doing something wrong with undeniable, clear evidence

"I caught him in 4k."

"The security footage managed to catch the thief in 4k, showing his face clearly as he stole the item."

someone who follows you back on social media

"He is my moot."

"I always appreciate it when a new follower turns out to be a moot and reciprocates the follow."

to read online forums, chats, or social media without participating or revealing oneself

"He likes to lurk."

"Many users prefer to lurk in online communities, observing discussions without actively contributing their own thoughts."