lolcow theory of the internet

I’m back on schizogram again. The posts are all different, but all the same. A man hides in the bushes from the authorities. A shirtless old woman yells obscenities at her camera. A wild-eyed college burnout shares his discovery that we’re living in a 300,000-year-old simulation. Each video has millions of views, and the comments range from concerned to encouraging. “Keep talking to the AI, it’s working.” “Please get help!” “I think bro is onto something.” In any case, the audience shares a frame of reference that the user does not: we are sane, and they are insane.Now I’m on Old Person Instagram. A woman taps her phone in confusion. Another squints at her screen before starting to speak. A third accidentally zooms onto her own forehead. Here, the comments are warmer, but the underlying relation is the same as on schizogram. There is a power dynamic between the viewer and the poster: they don’t understand the internet, but I do.In both of these instances, the naïve user unwittingly…