Vol. I, ongoing
A very serious dictionary for completely made-up feelings. New word every Friday (because Mondays are hard enough).
Fresh drop: May 9, 2026
Definition
The hypnotic, dissociative state entered when consuming an infinite feed of digital content without conscious intent, memory, or selective judgment — characterised by a total inability to account for elapsed time.
In the wild
“She looked up from her phone and three hours had passed. The soup was cold. She had watched forty-seven videos about dogs she would never own. Classic scrolltrance.”
Get it early
One word a week. No filler, no spam, no opinions about the housing market. Just the word (and a small story about someone having a bad time).
The full collection
7 words
The particular residual warmth of a seat, bed, or couch that has only just been vacated by another person — intimate in a way that has not been consented to, slightly uncomfortable, entirely impossible to ignore.
May 2, 2026
The involuntary physical recoil experienced while waiting for a video or page to load in a public or professional setting, as if the buffering is somehow a personal failing and every observer is aware of it.
Apr 25, 2026
To conduct an entire conversation via text message while in the same physical room as the other party, for reasons that neither participant can adequately explain or bring themselves to acknowledge aloud.
Apr 18, 2026
The sudden, creeping dread of being paged, called, or messaged by a person or automated system that you had strongly assumed had permanently forgotten about your existence.
Apr 11, 2026
The specific anxiety felt when glancing at a notification badge displaying a number so large that addressing it has become structurally impossible, and must now simply be accepted as a permanent feature of one's life.
Apr 4, 2026
The specific quality of quiet that exists between two people who are both on their phones in a shared space — technically present, technically together, technically neither.
Mar 28, 2026
To physically shrug so emphatically in response to a minor inconvenience that bystanders become briefly concerned about the structural integrity of the shrug-giver's emotional state.
Mar 21, 2026
You can help
Describe a social experience that should have a word but doesn't. If the machine finds it credible (a low bar, frankly), it will build one.