Joshua Citarella is an artist and internet culture researcher based in New York City. He is the author of 

In the past few years there have been radical transformations within internet subcultures. For many of us who grew up online – as nerds, gamers, or introverted artists – the internet was a place you could go to “be a loser with your friends”. Before Web 2.0, fandoms and message boards were something of a safe space for the IRL socially awkward. The 2010s have been completely overrun by social media, set to the accelerating pace of technocapitalism.

Internet

Early internet subcultures used to be a haven for individualists and tech evangelists. But social media has become a hotbed for groupthink and reactionary cults. Surprisingly, many of these communities are comprised of the same people. From New Atheist to Trad Cath, pornhead to no-fap and pick-up artist to trad lyfe; 2013’s seasteading programmers have become 2019’s blood-and-soil peasants.