The case against logging off

Every week, there’s a new warning: TikTok is poisoning the youth, Facebook is radicalizing your uncle, and the only way to save ourselves is to log off.But what if that’s exactly the opposite of what we should be doing? What if this push to disconnect isn’t about protecting us, but instead about disempowering us?

Aidan Walker is a meme researcher and author of the Substack newsletter How to Do Things With Memes. Today, he joins me to talk about why we shouldn't log off and how the internet, for all its flaws, can be a powerful tool for change.

The reality is that the internet—messy, chaotic, and algorithmically manipulated as it may be—is one of the only spaces where everyday people can assemble, communicate, and exert collective power.

Governments, the media, and people in power want you to stay offline, because a public that is fragmented and disengaged is easier to control. People in power want you to believe that social media is nothing more than an addictive distraction, rather than the battleground where narratives are shaped, movements are built, and institutions are held accountable.

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