Interview · moment 13 of 23
Trump as a Meme and the Loneliness of Being Online
from Behind the Youtube (with Joe Santagato) · #52
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
4 minGuest
They discuss whether the 2016 election was a turning point in social media culture, Trump as a walking meme, and the unhealthy isolation of kids growing up entirely online versus Tim and Joe's own less-connected childhoods.
- 48:34Trump is a walking meme that people can turn into whatever they want, especially with his facial expressions.
- 48:59Tim credits the 2016 election's viral scale partly to Trump being a meme-ready figure at social media's peak.
- 49:23People are lonely because they're living on their phones instead of having in-person conversations.
- 49:43Seven-year-olds with iPhones are tweeting sexually suggestive things at celebrities, unlike kids his age who were afraid of girls.
- 50:15This generation's greatest moments and joys all happen on the internet—bullying, meeting girlfriends, all of it online.
- 50:47Tim values friendships with people he sees in person more than any online connections.
- 51:17In his youth, spending more than an hour a day on a computer got you called a nerd; now social media use is unavoidable if you don't want to miss out.