About this episode
When was the last time you felt good about the internet? Today’s online landscape is a harrowing one. People screaming at each other on social media. Violent videos going viral. Cyberbullying, racism, misogyny. Back in the day, the web gave power to the people, and going online could actually be fun.
In LONG SHADOW: BREAKING THE INTERNET, Pulitzer-finalist historian, author, and journalist Garrett Graff retraces 30 years of web history — a tangle of GIFs, blogs, apps, and hashtags — to answer the bewildering question many ask when they go online today: “How did we get here?”
It’s the story of mankind’s greatest invention, but it's also about the biggest crisis facing society today: how the web's unlimited feed of data morphed into a firehose of hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and lies that divided Americans over things we once agreed on, like science, diversity, and even democracy itself.
LONG SHADOW: BREAKING THE INTERNET is produced by Long Lead and is distributed by PRX.
Get every episode summarized
Each time Long Shadow publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
Hosts & guests
No transcript yet
This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.
More episodes
More from Long Shadow
“Never again” / What is the legacy of 9/11?
Long Shadow
Trailer: Long Shadow: “Never again” / What is the legacy of 9/11?
Long Shadow
Question Everything: "I Believed Sandy Hook Was a Hoax" (Bonus)
Long Shadow
Panic World: Russiagate (Bonus)
Long Shadow