e would have to think very carefully about what we're getting from the in- ternet, and how much we're giving it in return. We'd have to care less about our identities, to be deeply skeptical of our own unbear- able opinions, to be careful about when opposition serves us, to be properly ashamed when we can’t express solidarity without put- ting ourselves first.

make it impossible to be a full person while interacting with it.

there were all of us—our stupid selves, with our stupid frustrations, our lost baggage and delayed trains.

essential that social media is mostly unsatisfying. That is what keeps us scrolling, scrolling, pressing our lever over and over in the hopes of getting some fleeting sensation—some momentary rush of recognition, flattery, or rage.

today we mostly consume news that corresponds with at ideological alignment, which has been fine-tuned to make us fee self-righteous and also mad.

because there is no room or requirement in a tweet to add a disclaimer about individual experience, and because hashtags subtly equate disconnected statements in a way that can’t be controlled by those speaking, it has been even easier for 4MeToo critics to claim that women must themselves think that going on a bad date is the same as being violently raped.

not all men have made women fearful, but yes, all women have experienced fear because of men.

internet would encourage me to express solidarity through inserting my own identity.

ou don’t need to step in shit to understand what stepping in shit feels like.

when you call someone terrible, you just end up promoting their work.

by the username Anonymous. “In real life, people like you for being a girl. They want to fuck you, so they pay attention to you and they pretend what you have to say is interesting, or that you are smart or clever. On the Internet, we don’t have the chance to fuck you. This means the advantage of being a ‘girl’ does not exist. You don’t get a bonus to conversation just because I'd like to put my cock in you.” He explained that women could get their unfair social advantage back by posting photos of their tits on the mes- sage board: “This is, and should be, degrading for you.”

everything that happens on the internet bounces and refracts.

ithin the economy of attention, conflict always ge | le to look. Gawker Media thrived on antagonism: its more peopl

“Immigrants: they get the job done.”

eiss’s columns featured aggrieved predictions of how her bold, independent thinking would make her opponents go crazy and attack her.

the internet has given an audience to writers who previously might have been shut out of the industry,

Take the experience of en- joying a sunset versus the experience of communicating to an audience that you're enjoying a sunset,

diverting our energy away from action, leaving the real-world sphere to the people who already control it,

I have sometimes felt the same sort of unease that washed over me when I was a cheerleader and learned how to convincingly fake happiness at football games—the feeling of act- ing as if conditions are fun and normal and worthwhile in the hopes that they will just magically become so.

approval-worthy identity is so strong.

there’s essentially no backstage on the internet;

tracked recorded, and resold

People often make faces, in private, in front of bathroom mirrors, to convince themselves of their own attrac- tiveness.

Even if he stops trying to perform, he still has an audience, his ac- i tage, tions still create an effect.

How did the internet get so bad, so confining, so ines- capably personal, so politically determinative—and why are all those questions asking the same thing?

a theory wes ee i i ing to an ex i far-right internet, leading seminated all over the ternet fea a cd , Ping Pong pizzeria and every ‘a attack on DC’s Comet ae with the restaurant—all in the name of combating pedophi —

a along with a set of feminist game critics and writers, nel eats, death threats, and other forms ° ras ond under the banner of free speech and ethics in | is ha- number around te

you have to act.

is feverish, electric, unlivable hell.

“The Web is the place for you to express your thoughts and feelings and such. To put those things elsewhere seems absurd.”

you had to register yourself digitally to exist.

What you did on the internet would become intertwined with what everyone else did, and the things other people liked would become the things that you would see.

ebsites would be portals, through which an ever-changing stream of activity— status updates, photos—could be displayed:

Because there were so few search engines and no centralized social platforms, discovery on the early internet took place mainly in private, and pleasure existed as its own solitary re- ward.

Users gave advice, answered ques- tions, made friendships, and wondered what this new internet would become.

marveling at how quickly my ten-year-old interne citi- zenry was evolving. I had recently revisited the sites that ha one inspired me, and realized “how much of an idiot 1 was to be y

In the beginning the internet seemed good.