Why I Spend My Time Online

I had one of those moments yesterday where I was laughing at something that happened on the internet, and then the laugh caught on something real underneath it. Some small act of coordination spiraled, became something larger, and suddenly it mattered. That’s when you feel why you do this—spend time scrolling, reading, watching things unfold in this space. Because real things happen here.

Digital natives—people who grew up thinking in threads and forums instead of consuming media passively—are starting to run things now. Shape culture, make policy, move the world. And the institutions are panicking. They don’t understand it, can’t control it, so they censor, legislate out of fear, treat the whole space like a threat. That’s what happens when you’re losing.

There’s something defiant about it I respect, even if I can see the risks. Power is shifting to people who grew up in this space—people who understand how information actually moves now. That terrifies everyone else, and maybe it should. But it’s hard to imagine that’s worse than what came before. The internet isn’t a moment. It’s the main story now. The only question is what comes next.