Three Kids Know More About the Internet Than You Do

The real secrets of internet fame aren’t in a Seth Godin book or a conference talk by some self-anointed digital strategist who hasn’t held a real job since 2006. They’re in iCarly, a Nickelodeon show I could watch on a loop and feel zero embarrassment about.

Carly Shay runs a web show from her Seattle apartment with her two completely chaotic friends, and every episode throws at them exactly the problems anyone who’s tried to build something online already knows: the fan who crosses into something worrying, the hacker with a personal grievance, the moment a brand appears with money in hand and asks you to compromise. They resolve each of these in twenty minutes, after which everyone gets chicken wings and cheese pizza.

The supporting cast is what elevates it. Spencer, Carly’s older brother and accidental legal guardian, is the platonic ideal of the adult who opted out—surrounded by his own sculpture projects, blissfully indifferent to conventional success, and somehow still the most functional person in the room. And Sam, Carly’s best friend, is genuinely alarming in a way I find hard to fully explain. She’s twelve and you’re a little afraid of her. I’ve worked with adults who commanded less presence.

Something about the whole enterprise is slightly off if you catch it at the right angle, and that’s honestly part of its personality. But every episode ends well, the good people come out ahead, and Sam is not going to show up at your apartment and empty your fridge. I’m fairly confident.