[Heo Young-ju Column] How to Learn English Using Social Media

The Impact of Tiny Habits
Learning English through Social Media 'English Content'
The First Step Towards Sustainable Learning

My biggest goal this year was to 'study English'. I planned to sit down for 30 minutes a day to memorize vocabulary or read English books, but it never happened.

Then, I came across James Clear's book, Atomic Habits. The author stated, “One of the best ways to build a new habit is to identify your current habits that you already do every day and then layer a new behavior on top of them.”

I thought about my 'current habits that I already do every day'. It was using social media.

I decided to layer English learning onto my social media habit and started changing the algorithms of all my social media platforms to 'English content'.

I followed foreign creators whose styles I liked and continuously liked their posts to completely change the algorithms. Then, I started learning English in various ways, tailored to the nature of each platform.

First, I used YouTube to improve my 'English listening' skills. I discovered a 1-2 hour interview podcast channel called 'The Diary Of A CEO' and consistently watched it while driving and exercising, which helped me improve my listening skills. This channel features interviews with world-renowned speakers and offers incredible insights. Not only did it help with English, but it also inspired me in many ways, so I recommend it to my readers.

I changed my YouTube Shorts algorithm to 'comedy' by liking mainly American stand-up comedy. Since I often watch Shorts to kill time, I thought I might as well enjoy it, so I chose comedy. The stand-up comedian I recommend on YouTube is 'Jimmy Yang'. Jimmy often incorporates jokes about Asian culture, making it relatable and enjoyable for Koreans, so I highly recommend him.

For Threads, I used it to learn short sentences. I liked posts and commented on channels that shared English quotes to change the algorithm and used them for learning.

For Reels, I mainly watched content that dramatized funny situations from everyday American life. Drama-style content was very helpful for learning natural everyday English. Also, in many cases, the 'comments' are funnier than the videos themselves, so I practiced reading English by reading through the English comments.

Finally, I recently started using LinkedIn, where I am currently practicing 'English writing' by uploading posts directly in English.

In this way, I was exposed to English in various ways on each social media platform for 6 months every day. What were the results? The results were amazing. The biggest achievement was that English itself became a part of my daily life, no longer something I 'had to study' but a living language. I became comfortable and accustomed to using English, such as reading books and having conversations in English, making it a natural part of my 'everyday life'.

If I had tried to set aside time to study English, I probably wouldn't have improved my English skills this year. However, using the social media 'habit' to learn English led me to have an 'everyday' experience with English and helped me improve my skills without having to set aside extra time.

The key point of learning English using social media is to watch 'content that you genuinely enjoy' in English. Many people watch content that is too advanced in terms of vocabulary and not interesting just for the sake of studying English, which reduces the fun of learning and hinders the sustainability of the learning process. However, watching content you're already interested in in English provides continuous enjoyment and enables sustainable learning.

If you want to study English but find yourself constantly staring at social media, try using social media to learn English instead. Change your algorithm, watch content that appeals to you in English, and before you know it, English will become a part of your everyday language.

※ The author of this article is the original writer, andthis is a reprinted article from Woman Economy Newspaper.