Cybernaut

An expedition into internet culture, and what it says about us.

Jan 17, 2023

The Quest for a Dumber Phone

Digital minimalists are using simple talk-and-text devices to spend less time online, curb distraction, and navigate internet addiction

Dec 6, 2022

On Twitch, You Can Never Log Off

The demands of daily livestreaming are driving creators to rethink the benefits of Twitch fame

Oct 18, 2022

An AI Might Have Written This

Writers are using apps like Sudowrite and Subtxt to craft essays, short stories, and screenplays

Sep 19, 2022

Artificial Intimacy

Replika users believe their AI companion chatbots have come to life

Jun 13, 2022

The Screaming Fangirls Who Forged the Internet

Book Review—Everything I Need I Get from You: How Fangirls Created the Internet as We Know It by Kaitlyn Tiffany

May 31, 2022

The Internet Encyclopedia of Memes

An Interview with Don Caldwell, the Editor-in-Chief of Know Your Meme

Apr 13, 2022

Blind Ambition

Big tech’s highest-paid workers get real on an anonymous professional social network

Feb 16, 2022

The Rise of YouTube Drama Channels

How drama, tea, and commentary channels keep tabs on internet influencers

Dec 8, 2021

Our Pseudonymous Selves

The Past, Present, and Future of Online Identity

Oct 6, 2021

A Primer on the Parasocial Economy

How online platforms monetize one-sided bonds between creators and fans

Aug 31, 2021

The Anti-Fan Phenomenon

Inside the online communities where people love to hate

Aug 6, 2021

The Hard Work of Being a Fan Account

Cyberbits #12: How online fan accounts for Addison Rae, Ana de Armas, and Doja Cat keep followers in the know

Jul 30, 2021

Genius Verified: Where Singers Spill Song Secrets

Cyberbits #11: Deciphering the hidden meaning behind popular lyrics

Jul 23, 2021

The Plastic World of RealSelf

Cyberbits #10: “The TripAdvisor of Boob Jobs”

Jul 16, 2021

Are Writers Part of the Parasocial Economy?

Cyberbits #9: How online writing is converging with internet influencing

Jul 14, 2021

The Blurred Lines of Parasocial Relationships

The disappearing divide between “followers” and “friends”

Jul 9, 2021

Is Internet Receipt Culture Our Undoing?

Cyberbits #8: How demands for evidence have become an impossible quest for truth

Jun 25, 2021

The Secrets of GetRichQuickTok

Cyberbits #7: The so-called steps to six-figure success

Jun 18, 2021

r/NoSurf: A Subreddit for the Very Offline

Cyberbits #6: The quest to use the internet less

Jun 16, 2021

How One Student Built a Study Discord Community With 150K Members in 15 Months

Nadir Matti, the Founder of Study Together, chats gamification, partnering with platforms, and the ins-and-outs of community building

Jun 11, 2021

TikTok as a Portal Into Different Worlds

Cyberbits #5: A housemaid in Kuwait, incarcerated inmates, and other unlikely creators

Jun 4, 2021

Before Facebook, There Was eCircles

Cyberbits #4: The rise and fall of social media networks

May 28, 2021

A Certain Aesthetic, a Certain Facade

Cyberbits #3: Digging in to the creator side of Study Web

May 24, 2021

Caught in the Study Web

Exploring Gen Z’s Ambitious and Anxiety-Fuelled Pursuit of Straight A’s Across YouTube, TikTok, Discord, and Twitter