Why People Are Terrible On The Internet

“[S]ometimes, the stuff people do online is fake. We all suck at it, because ultimately, it is pretty dumb. You know that job where you teach people to be good at social media? Not real! Doesn’t exist. There is no being good at social media, because it is a horror show.”
 — This woman is correct. No one is exactly who they pretend to be on the Internet, and if they say they are they are either fooling themselves or trying to cultivate simplicity and sincerity as their Internet brand. As terrible as everyone is in real life, they are exponentially worse online, where they are ostensibly able to direct their ideal presentation of themselves and still wind up looking like self-important dickfaces, especially the self-deprecating ones. Here is a good way of understanding how horrible “online” really happens to be: It is the one place in our world where the torrents of theoretical nonsense spouted about performativity actually make a small amount of sense, which goes a long way toward explaining why Twitter sometimes feels like a second semester torture chamber/critical theory tenure grab. Anyway, I want you to leave here armed with a semblance of hope rather than mired in a morass of despair, so I will tell you that there is one good thing about the way we’re all awful on the Internet: At least we’re faking it. See, you feel better now, right?