Tiktok Refugees, America Trolling America, And Class Warfare Online

This moment in internet history will be studied

We are living through peak internet history, you guys. One day people will write histories of what happened on the internet and this moment will be one of the most fascinating chapters, a chapter about Americans trolling America and digital immigration and class warfare.

I have learned to see the internet as a real place. For many people it’s a central place in their lives—we used to go to the internet to escape the real world, now we go out to the real world (and touch grass) in order to occasionally escape the Internet. For so many of us, so much of our lives happen online that it’s just as much of a real place as the real world. To me there is no place where the Internet feels more like a real place than Tiktok. It’s a raucous bar where people get real about their lives, their politics, everything. It’s that Third Place that many of us feel like we need. By Third Place I mean the concept that most of us want a place beside home and work where we can go and find community. Past generations had neighborhood bars, churches, and bowling alleys to perform that service. Now, many of us find that connection through online communities. So, you can see why it’s a source of tremendous anxiety for many of us that once again, the US government is on the verge of banning Tiktok.