Very online feelings

The four eras of attention on the internet

Featured in

Buy $AU 18.50 - 27.99
  • Published 20250506
  • ISBN: 978-1-923213-07-4
  • Extent: 196 pp
  • Paperback, ebook, PDF

I HAVE LONG described the internet as my ‘home’. As an anthropologist who used to constantly be on the road, the internet was my comfort and my constant amid the chaos of travel. But the risk of going online during this era of late-stage capitalism is that calamity is always nearby.

I remember in the mid 2000s when my cohort started to abandon the instant messaging platform IRC in favour of MSN Messenger. The large online communities I had fostered and invested in with other pseudonymous strangers across several IRC channels were replaced by dyadic chats and small groups of mutual friends curated in my contact list. (I still miss the intimacy of pseudonymity. I treasure my IRC handles to this day.)

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

If you are an educator or student wishing to access content for study purposes please contact us at griffithreview@griffith.edu.au

Share article

Tweet
Share
Share
Pin
0 Shares

Subscribe to great writing

Access starts at just $6 per month. Print and digital options to suit every budget!

Learn more

About the author

Crystal Abidin

Crystal Abidin is an anthropologist of vernacular internet cultures, focusing especially on the Asia-Pacific region. She has published six books and more than 250...

More from this edition

It ain’t easy being twee

Non-fictionDuring my pre-teen years, I amassed a large collection of animal plushies and figurines. I loved collecting different species, different families and different genii. I didn’t just want a generic teddy bear, I wanted specific representations of the animal kingdom: grizzly bears, black bears, sun bears and so forth. (FYI: in earlier decades, it was hotly contested whether giant pandas were true bears or were closer to their raccoon relatives, so my panda plushie split its time between families.) My plushies were ‘decluttered’ when they were no longer ‘age appropriate’. I was expected to become a different kind of person – one who doesn’t think about plushies. One who can get by on utility, with no need for art, beauty or whimsy. One who can use their perspicacity for something sensible. It wasn’t to be.

You will be seen now

PoetryI saw a fin- ger loosen the zipper,the bag’s tan exterior animated by teeth.  Beneath knuckle-white shades, faces surfaced–witnesses in a waiting room.  Pareidolia or paranoia?Malice etched in putty. Everything...

Know thyself

Non-fiction THE FIRST TIME I left Australia, I was six years old. My parents took my sister and I to Greece, the original home of...

Stay up to date with the latest, news, articles and special offers from Griffith Review.