rabbit hole
/ˈræbɪt hoʊl/
Very CommonA deep, absorbing spiral of content or information you didn't plan to fall into.
Usually described with a mix of excitement and mild self-deprecation. Not inherently negative. You can go down a rabbit hole about a great documentary, a niche hobby, or a conspiracy theory. The word doesn't judge the destination.
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Fell down a rabbit hole about abandoned shopping malls at 2am and I have no regrets. | Spent hours reading about a niche topic after one link pulled them in. | x, 2024 |
| 02 | Started watching one video about medieval bread and now I know everything about grain taxation in 1200s Europe. | A single piece of content led to an unexpectedly deep knowledge spiral. | tiktok, 2023 |
| 03 | Do not click that link unless you want to lose four hours. Total rabbit hole. | A warning that engaging with the link will lead to an absorbing, time-consuming spiral. | reddit, 2023 |
| 04 | YouTube rabbit holes after midnight should be illegal. It's 4am and I'm watching a 3-part documentary about ant colonies. | Autoplay and recommendation features pulled the person into hours of unplanned content. | x, 2024 |
Use it when
- You clicked one video and ended up watching fifteen.
- A single Wikipedia article sent you reading for hours.
- You started researching one thing and ended up learning about something completely unrelated.
- You're hours into content you didn't plan to consume.
Do not use it when
- You deliberately planned to read extensively on a topic.
- Someone is being gradually pushed toward extreme views over months.Use “algorithm-radicalization” instead.
Variations and related forms
Rabbit hole vs pipeline
rabbit hole
A rabbit hole is one person's unplanned dive into a topic. Personal and usually in a single session.
pipeline
A pipeline is a social pattern that moves many people from one ideology or community to another over time.
Origin and context
From Lewis Carroll's 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' (1865), where Alice follows a rabbit down a hole into an increasingly strange world. Adopted as internet slang to describe accidental deep dives, with heavy use expanding around the rise of YouTube autoplay and social media feeds.
- First seen
- early-2010s
- Confidence
- high
Cite this page
Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/rabbit-hole