Social media is dead
The internet as we knew it is over. That’s been clear for at least a year, but recently it feels like the discourse is catching up. The social media platforms so crucial to my adulthood have rotted from the inside out and/or been destroyed by some our planet’s greediest and least imaginative ghouls. Everything, even ostensible on-the-ground war footage, is an ad. The vibes have officially shifted. The internet is more chaotic than ever, but it is also—and I think this is even more important—really, extremely, almost unbelievably boring.
Here’s Kyle Chayka in the New Yorker:
Remember having fun online? It meant stumbling onto a Web site you’d never imagined existed, receiving a meme you hadn’t already seen regurgitated a dozen times, and maybe even playing a little video game in your browser. … The Internet today feels emptier, like an echoing hallway, even as it is filled with more content than ever.
I’m receiving reports that the only place with a whiff of the previous era’s posting energy is…LinkedIn? I, for one, would prefer not to. I’m not rejoining Instagram, I’m not wrangling Mastodon, and I’m not lining up for BlueSky. If I didn’t join TikTok in 2020, I’m never joining TikTok. I will disappear off the face of the earth before I willingly behold Threads.
Perhaps somewhere out there in a glimmer of code exists the seed of the next great public platform, the one that will feel exhilarating but also safe, emotionally fulfilling but also unpredictable, professionally useful but also just the right amount of unhinged. Or perhaps such a dream was always impossible. We’ve glimpsed the world in which we’re all posters, and I don’t think it’s better than the world we’re moving towards, with its stark divide between creators and consumers. Chayka again:
Selfies are no longer enough; video-based platforms showcase your body, your speech and mannerisms, and the room you’re in, perhaps even in real time. Everyone is forced to perform the role of an influencer. The barri1er to entry is higher and the pressure to conform stronger. It’s no surprise, in this environment, that fewer people take the risk of posting and more settle into roles as passive consumers.
So where are all of us online normies heading next? I, for one, am setting off for the promised land of the closed group chat, and I know I’m not alone. I’m taking my talents to a few Discords, a few Slacks, and an email group or two. Is this more work than scrolling on Twitter? Yes. Does it do anything for my professional life or personal brand? Not really, or at least, not on purpose. Am I having a great time? Hell yes! I’ve spent long enough feeling bad online out of some sense of professional obligation or mildly addictive death drive. Whatever the new internet becomes, I hope we remember it’s supposed to be fun.
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