Words popularized online are moving into everyday conversation, giving routine experiences sharper labels while leaving less room for detail.
A difficult colleague is “toxic.” An exhausting week is “burnout.” A pleasant evening is “iconic.” A period of reflection becomes “healing.”
A survey of 12,684 adults across the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Latin America, and the European Union found that 64% sometimes use language more dramatic than the feelings or events they are describing.
The MyIQ survey found that 71% believe words including “toxic,” “burnout,” “healing,” “iconic,” “obsessed,” and “narcissist” are used far more frequently than they were five years ago. Another 58% said ordinary language now feels less expressive than it once did.
The words do not serve the same purpose. “Iconic” and “obsessed” often work as casual exaggerations. “Burnout” can describe prolonged occupational exhaustion. “Narcissist” has a clinical association but is now widely used as a judgment about someone’s behavior.
Online, those distinctions are easy to lose. A word that once referred to a specific condition or type of behavior can spread through captions, videos and comments until it becomes a general label for anything unpleasant, difficult or emotionally charged.
That movement from specialist language into popular speech is not new. Terms have always passed from medicine, psychology, politics and entertainment into daily conversation. Social platforms allow them to travel faster, often without the context that once limited how they were used.
As a result, a familiar word can replace a longer explanation. Someone may describe a relationship as “toxic” without explaining whether it involved manipulation, incompatibility or a single argument. A demanding month at work may be called “burnout” without distinguishing between temporary fatigue and sustained exhaustion.
The label makes the speaker’s judgment clear. It does not always make the experience itself clearer.
A total of 61% of respondents said social media has affected how they describe their lives. Another 53% said they sometimes catch themselves using phrases they first encountered online without deliberately choosing them.
This kind of borrowing can happen gradually. A phrase appears repeatedly in posts and videos, becomes familiar, and then enters conversation as the most readily available way to describe a situation. By the time people notice themselves using it, the expression may no longer feel borrowed.
Sarah Meyer, managing director of MyIQ, said the speed of that transfer distinguishes the current period from earlier changes in popular language.
“Social platforms favor words that are immediate, emotionally clear and instantly recognizable,” Meyer said. “When those expressions enter everyday conversation, they can affect how people categorize what happened to them.”
The survey does not establish that social media alone caused the change, nor does it measure whether particular words alter a person’s emotions or behavior. It records how respondents view their own speech and the language they hear around them.
Their answers nevertheless show how widely online phrasing has entered personal accounts of work, relationships and identity. Respondents were not simply noticing new slang. Many believed they were choosing stronger terms than their experiences required.
Several said they became aware of the habit only after hearing their own words repeated back to them.
“I realized I was describing almost everything as either ‘toxic’ or ‘healing,’ even when neither word really fit,” one respondent said. “It was only when someone pointed it out that I noticed how often I was borrowing language I’d seen online.”
Another respondent said: “Sometimes I hear myself talking, and it sounds like I’m writing an Instagram caption instead of telling someone what actually happened.”
The attraction of this language is understandable. Familiar expressions make an experience easy to recognize and quick to communicate. They also tell the listener how the speaker wants the event to be judged.
But the same word may now cover situations that differ greatly in seriousness. “Toxic” can describe an irritating coworker, a controlling partner, a difficult friendship or an opinion someone dislikes. “Trauma” may refer to severe psychological harm or an embarrassing afternoon. “Narcissist” can be applied to a person with a diagnosed disorder or simply to someone considered selfish.
As those uses multiply, the words provide less information about what actually occurred. The difference between being tired, overworked and burned out matters, just as the difference between conflict and abuse matters. Broad labels can obscure those distinctions even when they make the speaker’s position immediately clear.
This does not make online language inherently inferior, and it does not mean detailed conversation has disappeared. Popular speech has always favored expressions that are vivid, useful and easy to repeat.
What is changing is how quickly a small set of words can spread across millions of conversations and how widely each one can be applied. A person may begin with a label because everyone recognizes it. Whether the listener ever hears the fuller account is another question.
About MyIQ:
MyIQ was launched in 2024 and is used by over a million individuals worldwide. It is a digital self-knowledge platform that offers more than an IQ score, with over 9 million completed tests across the various test categories: cognitive, personality, and relationships, all with personalised, actionable insights. The platform offers over 25 brain games, more than 150 intelligence puzzles, over 20 hours of expert video content, and 300+ available lessons on emotional intelligence, problem-solving, innovation, confidence-building, and decision-making. Through its IQ test, full-spectrum personality assessment, and relationship insight quiz, MyIQ delivers structured, personalized feedback that helps individuals better understand their inner world and behaviour.
MyIQ was launched in 2024 and is used by over a million individuals worldwide. It is a digital self-knowledge platform that offers more than an IQ score, with over 9 million completed tests across the various test categories: cognitive, personality, and relationships, all with personalised, actionable insights. The platform offers over 25 brain games, more than 150 intelligence puzzles, over 20 hours of expert video content, and 300+ available lessons on emotional intelligence, problem-solving, innovation, confidence-building, and decision-making. Through its IQ test, full-spectrum personality assessment, and relationship insight quiz, MyIQ delivers structured, personalized feedback that helps individuals better understand their inner world and behaviour.