How the Internet Became Hell (with Whitney Phillips)

About this episode

Whitney Phillips discusses the worsening state of the internet and its impact on politics.

‘The Ambivalent Intent’ and ‘The Shadow Gospel’ author Whitney Phillips on how online got so bad Why does the internet feel like it’s getting worse every single day, and why does it feel like the political landscape is getting worse in response? The answer might seem obvious, especially if you read 404 Media on a regular basis, where we’ve been documenting this decline, but it’s important to occasionally zoom out and ask the big questions. That’s why this week on the podcast I’m joined by Whitney Phillips. Phillips is the author of several books about internet culture and ethics, including This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things and The Ambivalent Internet. She’s a professor of information politics and media ethics at the University of Oregon, and also one of my favorite people to talk to and listen to because she’s a genius when it comes to the kind of internet culture and platform dynamics we report on every day at 404 Media. I wanted to talk to Whitney today because it’s been a few years since we talked in depth about the state of the internet and so much has changed in that time, sadly for the worst, and I really wanted some help in understanding the current state of things, as…

People in this episode

Host: 404 Media

Guest: Whitney Phillips

Topics covered

• internet culture
• media ethics
• political landscape
• online decline
• platform dynamics

Keywords

• internet decline
• media ethics
• Whitney Phillips
• political landscape
• online culture

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Oregon

Books & works: The Ambivalent Intent, The Shadow Gospel, This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

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