rabbit-hole article
/ˈræbɪt hoʊl ˈɑːrtɪkəl/
CommonA piece of content that pulls you into reading more and more until you have lost an hour.
Usually positive or neutral. The spiral is satisfying, not distressing. Distinct from doom-reading because the feeling at the end is more like 'huh, that was interesting' than 'i feel terrible'.
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | sent you a rabbit-hole article about the history of competitive yo-yo. you're welcome and sorry | Sharing a link with the expectation that the recipient will lose significant time to it. | instagram, 2024 |
| 02 | started on wikipedia for a recipe and ended up reading about medieval grain storage for two hours. classic rabbit-hole article situation | A simple search led to an unplanned extended reading session. | reddit, 2023 |
| 03 | this is a rabbit-hole article, don't open it unless you have two hours free | The article or its links are engaging enough to consume significant unplanned time. | x, 2024 |
| 04 | i was reading about the moon landing and now i know way too much about the geology of the sea of tranquility. rabbit-hole article got me again | The original article led to progressively more niche reading. | x, 2023 |
Use it when
- An article or Wikipedia page pulled you into a long chain of reading.
- You started reading about one topic and ended up somewhere completely different.
- Describing the kind of content that has a lot of internal links or follow-up reading.
Do not use it when
- You read something long but it was a single contained piece.
- The spiral made you feel anxious or distressed.Use “doom-read” instead.
- You were just scrolling a feed without following any threads.
Rabbit-hole article vs doom-read
rabbit-hole article
A rabbit-hole article pulls you in through curiosity. You usually feel good about it afterward.
doom-read
A doom-read pulls you in through distress. You usually feel worse afterward.
Origin and context
Derived from the Alice in Wonderland idiom 'going down the rabbit hole', applied to the internet reading experience of following hyperlinks deeper and deeper. The specific phrase 'rabbit-hole article' became common in online media discussion.
- First seen
- 2010s
- Confidence
- medium
Cite this page
Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/rabbit-hole-article