Complete Archive

48 ESSAYS
IN FULL

Every essay we've published, in one place. Filter by category or search by keyword.

⌕

Showing 48 essays

2024
Dec 2024
You Didn't Just Browse — You Became
Mirela Voss
Identity Fandom
16 min read
Nov 2024
How Fandoms Became Identity Systems
Mirela Voss
Fandom Identity
12 min read
Oct 2024
Your Username Is Not a Mask
Kenji Osei
Identity
9 min read
Sep 2024
Post-Irony and Beyond: 20 Years of Meme Evolution
Jonah Reeves
Memes
10 min read
Aug 2024
Why Liminal Spaces Feel Like Comfort
Leila Shah
Aesthetics Nostalgia
8 min read
Jul 2024
Why Old Forums Felt Like Home
Ami Tanaka
Nostalgia Sociology
7 min read
Jun 2024
Vaporwave as Grief: The Aesthetics of Impossible Return
Remi Cross
Aesthetics Nostalgia
11 min read
May 2024
What Twitter Killed When It Changed
Dara Oke
Platforms Sociology
9 min read
Apr 2024
The Parasocial Spectrum: From Fans to True Believers
Mirela Voss
Fandom
14 min read
Mar 2024
The Weirdcore Compendium: Mapping an Unmappable Aesthetic
Sam Rowe
Aesthetics
13 min read
Feb 2024
Discord as Third Place: Community Architecture in the Algorithm Age
Ami Tanaka
Sociology Platforms
10 min read
Jan 2024
The Shitpost as Self-Portrait
Jonah Reeves
Memes Identity
8 min read
2023
Nov 2023
Belonging in the Age of Algorithms
Kenji Osei
Identity Sociology
11 min read
Oct 2023
The Algorithm as Culture Machine
Dara Oke
Platforms
12 min read
Sep 2023
The Internet We Lost: Grief for Digital Places
Mirela Voss
Nostalgia Fandom
10 min read
Aug 2023
Moderation and Power: Who Governs Online Communities
Leila Shah
Sociology
9 min read
Jul 2023
When Memes Became Grief: The Emotional Evolution of Internet Humor
Jonah Reeves
Memes Nostalgia
13 min read
Jun 2023
Cyberminimalism and the Aesthetics of Refusal
Sam Rowe
Aesthetics
7 min read
May 2023
Why We Overshare Online: The Disinhibition Effect Explained
Kenji Osei
Identity
8 min read
Apr 2023
TikTok's For You Page: A Sociology of Infinite Scroll
Dara Oke
Platforms Sociology
11 min read
Mar 2023
Anti-Fandom: When Hate-Watching Becomes Community
Remi Cross
Fandom
9 min read
Feb 2023
Net Nostalgia: The Cultural Function of Internet Memory
Ami Tanaka
Nostalgia Aesthetics
10 min read
Jan 2023
Irony Poisoning: How Detachment Became a Personality
Jonah Reeves
Memes Identity
12 min read
2022
Dec 2022
Ship Wars and Canon Discourse: The Internal Politics of Fandom
Mirela Voss
Fandom
11 min read
Nov 2022
Dreamcore and the Architecture of the Uncanny
Leila Shah
Aesthetics
9 min read
Oct 2022
Forum Archaeology: Reading the Ruins of Old Message Boards
Ami Tanaka
Nostalgia Sociology
10 min read
Sep 2022
The Lurker's Gaze: Passive Participation and Online Community
Kenji Osei
Sociology Identity
8 min read
Aug 2022
How Reddit's Upvote System Shaped What Humor Survives
Dara Oke
Platforms Memes
9 min read
Jul 2022
When Your Audience Becomes Your Identity
Remi Cross
Identity
10 min read
Jun 2022
Geocities and the Archaeology of the Personal Web
Sam Rowe
Nostalgia
12 min read
May 2022
The Economy of Fandom: How Attention Became Currency
Mirela Voss
Fandom Sociology
11 min read
Apr 2022
Y2K Aesthetics and the Nostalgia We Don't Understand Yet
Leila Shah
Aesthetics Nostalgia
8 min read
Mar 2022
Dank, Ironic, Sincere: A Taxonomy of Meme Sincerity
Jonah Reeves
Memes
7 min read
Feb 2022
The Status Architecture of Old Forums
Ami Tanaka
Sociology Nostalgia
9 min read
Jan 2022
The First Post: An Introduction to Internet Culture Studies
Editorial Team
Identity
5 min read