Culips Everyday English Podcast
Jul 26, 2026 · 21 min · 9 segments
Have you ever looked up from your phone and realized that an hour just disappeared? In this Catch Word lesson, Andrew and Indiana teach you how to tell someone to “touch grass” and how to describe a…
Today, we are talking about the expression touch grass, as in go touch grass.
You may have seen this online a few times or maybe even heard it in real life.
And we are also talking about being terminally or chronically online, so describing a person as terminally or chronically online.
Okay.
Very good.
The first expression, touch grass, and the second one, chronically online or terminally online.
I think we use them both, and they both have the same meaning.
But let's start with touch grass.
So we know grass is, like, this plant that grows outside, right? Maybe you'd see grass growing in a park, or maybe you'd see grass growing in a field.
So it's this plant outside.
Why would we tell someone to touch grass? When would we use this expression?
You might expect that this would be something like, uh, you should reconnect with nature or enjoy some time outside, get some sun.
But it's really specifically to tell somebody that they have been cooped up inside staring at their phone or computer too long and getting way too deep into the internet, getting too disconnected from reality and what really matters.
So this is sort of like almost an, an insult or a joke that you could say.
Um, you could tell somebody, "You need to go touch grass," or, "Samantha has been online way too much recently.
She really needs to touch grass." It's this criticism that you would make saying that somebody needs to reconnect with reality, like they're getting too deep into the weeds, perhaps in conspiracy theories or, like, celebrity drama on social media, and no longer in touch with what matters.
Yeah.
It feels like everybody is living this extravagant, wonderful lifestyle except me.
But then I close the app, and I go outside, and I notice, well, the world is filled with just regular people like me.
Like, Instagram is this weird place where all we see are these, you know, really fantastic lifestyles that are not really what most people actually live.
It's not really reality.
And so some people don't have that experience of seeing the real world, and they're just so wrapped up in what they see online, and they get a distorted view of reality.
And so we use this expression often to talk about these people, where they've lost what reality actually is, and they've found themselves in, like, a weird corner of the internet or a dark corner of the internet.
It might be about politics.
Today, we are talking about the expression touch grass, as in go touch grass.
You may have seen this online a few times or maybe even heard it in real life.
And we are also talking about being terminally or chronically online, so describing a person as terminally or chronically online.
Okay.
Very good.
The first expression, touch grass, and the second one, chronically online or terminally online.
I think we use them both, and they both have the same meaning.
But let's start with touch grass.
So we know grass is, like, this plant that grows outside, right? Maybe you'd see grass growing in a park, or maybe you'd see grass growing in a field.
So it's this plant outside.
Why would we tell someone to touch grass? When would we use this expression?
You might expect that this would be something like, uh, you should reconnect with nature or enjoy some time outside, get some sun.
But it's really specifically to tell somebody that they have been cooped up inside staring at their phone or computer too long and getting way too deep into the internet, getting too disconnected from reality and what really matters.
So this is sort of like almost an, an insult or a joke that you could say.
Um, you could tell somebody, "You need to go touch grass," or, "Samantha has been online way too much recently.
She really needs to touch grass." It's this criticism that you would make saying that somebody needs to reconnect with reality, like they're getting too deep into the weeds, perhaps in conspiracy theories or, like, celebrity drama on social media, and no longer in touch with what matters.
Yeah.
It feels like everybody is living this extravagant, wonderful lifestyle except me.
But then I close the app, and I go outside, and I notice, well, the world is filled with just regular people like me.
Like, Instagram is this weird place where all we see are these, you know, really fantastic lifestyles that are not really what most people actually live.
It's not really reality.
And so some people don't have that experience of seeing the real world, and they're just so wrapped up in what they see online, and they get a distorted view of reality.
And so we use this expression often to talk about these people, where they've lost what reality actually is, and they've found themselves in, like, a weird corner of the internet or a dark corner of the internet.
It might be about politics.
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3 of 5
Instagram vs. Real Life
Andrew reflects on Instagram's distorted reality today
What "Touch Grass" Means
Indiana defines the phrase go touch grass
Medical Roots of Net Addiction
Indiana clarifies medical roots of internet slang
+2 more clips · 4 min 58 sec of audio in all
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