Thank you for this piece. I think YouTube and other social media platforms do serve as genuinely amazing creative outlets and memory archives that we keep going back to in search of who we are, how we can be different, who we want to be like and with. I hope we can preserve the best of it and truly make it safe and welcoming for all to enjoy.
I totally get it. I have found myself seeking out ambient jungle sounds or chimes, some of which had that beauty you described in the comment section.
Another beautiful – in a totally different way – thing unfolding on YouTube is how investigation itself is becoming public again. Podcasters working alongside their audiences, are collaboratively questioning narratives, tracing evidence, and comparing notes in the open. A lot of the action and collaboration is also happening in the comments. The YouTube comments are much more congenial than on X.
It’s messy, imperfect, but alive. A kind of open-source investigation that doesn’t wait for institutions to tell it what’s allowed to be seen. Reality collapse and narrative control is dissipating on the screen and in the comment section.
The movement is being called the Decentralized Intelligence Agency as coined by Candace Owens. Many of the De-CIA are pouring through the E files and still tracking down lies around the Charlie Kirk assassination. None of them believe the Trump administration's lone gunman story.
This, too, feels like something new and worthwhile taking shape.
This is beautiful to hear about. Reminds of things like annotations in used books or notes in the bathrooms of old live music clubs. That human touch adds whimsy and wonder that continuous scroll could never replicate. Bring reverence back to our digital spaces!
Thank you for this piece. I think YouTube and other social media platforms do serve as genuinely amazing creative outlets and memory archives that we keep going back to in search of who we are, how we can be different, who we want to be like and with. I hope we can preserve the best of it and truly make it safe and welcoming for all to enjoy.
Hi Jessica!
I totally get it. I have found myself seeking out ambient jungle sounds or chimes, some of which had that beauty you described in the comment section.
Another beautiful – in a totally different way – thing unfolding on YouTube is how investigation itself is becoming public again. Podcasters working alongside their audiences, are collaboratively questioning narratives, tracing evidence, and comparing notes in the open. A lot of the action and collaboration is also happening in the comments. The YouTube comments are much more congenial than on X.
It’s messy, imperfect, but alive. A kind of open-source investigation that doesn’t wait for institutions to tell it what’s allowed to be seen. Reality collapse and narrative control is dissipating on the screen and in the comment section.
The movement is being called the Decentralized Intelligence Agency as coined by Candace Owens. Many of the De-CIA are pouring through the E files and still tracking down lies around the Charlie Kirk assassination. None of them believe the Trump administration's lone gunman story.
This, too, feels like something new and worthwhile taking shape.
This is beautiful to hear about. Reminds of things like annotations in used books or notes in the bathrooms of old live music clubs. That human touch adds whimsy and wonder that continuous scroll could never replicate. Bring reverence back to our digital spaces!
Yes! I was also thinking about community notice boards, but of a more poetic nature. Street art maybe.
Beautiful, thank you Jessica.
Smaller communities, slower conversations, intentional moderation. It all sounds boring compared to scale and virality, but that’s probably the point.
This was beautiful. I really want this part of the internet to thrive! I’ll be sad if we lose it entirely to enshittification!