SCREEN PEOPLE

A timely study of the internet’s toxic effects on American society.

This book by an Atlantic staff writer argues that the past decade has transformed, for the worse, the way we think about engagement with each other. The impersonality of the internet has eroded our civility—Garber recalls getting death threats even for small-stakes criticisms of TV shows. Yet crucially, it’s also preserved and even intensified our appetite for narrative. So, thinking of “performance as an American cultural script,” she considers the ways the internet motivates us to be the heroes of our own story. Social media lets us star in our own heavily stage-managed reality show; AI chatbots encourage us to pursue friendship and even romance without the messy uncertainty of fellow humans. This depersonalization has more serious consequences, Garber notes. It fuels conspiracy theories like QAnon, where followers await every new cryptic plot twist, and blurs the lines between fact and fiction. It also sanctions inhumane acts: Consider how red-state leaders have shuttled immigrants to blue states solely to score political points (or, more precisely, likes), or how Luigi Mangione’s alleged murder of health care CEO Brian Thompson made him a kind of folk hero. This warping of reality, matched to needless harm to everyday Americans, finds its apotheosis in the “carnivalized cruelty” of the Donald Trump presidency. But Garber doesn’t let Trump swallow the narrative; he’s just one example of how language and intention have grown fuzzier and more weaponized now. Anybody who spends time online will sympathize with Garber’s insightful, well-curated considerations. But as for what to do about it, she can only shrug, offering no policy or legislative redresses, only a plea that we approach the internet “wisely.” Now that we all consider ourselves the smartest person in the room, who’s taking that note?

A dispiriting, but not doom-mongering, consideration of where memes and like-chasing got us.