The End of the World as We Know It
Long Shadow
This episode of Long Shadow explores the evolution of the internet from its early days of playful virality to its current state of division,
Key takeaways
- The internet's early days were marked by lighthearted virality, exemplified by events like the 'llama drama' and the dress color debate.
- These seemingly harmless viral moments foreshadowed a deeper shift: online content began to thrive on controversy and division.
Main topics
- The rise and fall of viral internet culture
- Algorithmic amplification of divisive content
Notable quotes
"How could we not start with this video? Two llamas on the run in Sun City for hours today."
"The entire internet, my office included, was just obsessed with these escaping llamas in Arizona."
Conclusion
The internet began as a tool for connection and shared discovery but has been reshaped by
Transcript preview
Speaker 6 (0:00) This is Speaker 3 (0:03) Longlead. Speaker 8 (0:08) When was the last time you felt good about the internet? The online landscape today is a harrowing one. People screaming at each other on social media, violent videos going viral, cyberbullying, racism, misogyny. It's hard to say for sure where the web started to turn sour. But a case can be made that the last good day of the internet was February 26th, 2015. Speaker 6 (0:35) How could we not start with this video? Two llamas on the run in Sun City for hours today. That morning, Speaker 8 (0:43) people around the country were huddling around their monitors. A news event was unfolding that was holding the internet in a trance. The must-see video of the day, llamas on the loose in the valley. A pair of llamas had escaped from a visit to a nursing home in Sun City, Arizona. Speaker 6 (1:00) A man let go of his rope, and before we knew it, it was llamas day out here in Sun City. So Speaker 8 (1:06) we're double choppering the two llamas for the day. Helicopter crews documented the chase as the llamas dodged handlers. Oh, llama, llama's head button. That is not good. And wove in and out of oncoming traffic. Speaker 1 (1:20) This is crazy. It would be really neat to be in those cars on the streets with the llamas. Speaker 8 (1:25) Online, the incident was going viral under the hashtag. llama drama. Speaker 1 (1:31) The entire internet, my office included, was just obsessed with these escaping llamas in Arizona. Speaker 8 (1:38) Kate Tolderness and her colleagues at BuzzFeed were watching the llama drama from their office in New York. Speaker 1 (1:45) And there was like helicopter footage and news coverage. And it was just hours of everyone being like, oh, are they going to catch the llamas? Speaker 3 (1:52) They do Speaker 1 (1:53) have a couple of guys with lassoes Speaker 3 (1:55) around there, but they've tried to throw these things. Oh, yeah, Speaker 1 (1:58) they got it with one. Speaker 6 (1:59) The llamas finally caught and headed back to their trailers. They finally did Speaker 1 (2:04) catch the llamas. Speaker 8 (2:12) Believe it or not, watching Lama videos was a big part of Holderness' job at BuzzFeed, trying to predict what would go viral and how to capitalize on it. At the time, BuzzFeed was the king of viral content, with 200 million visitors a month. Speaker 1 (2:27) We had the attitude of, if a piece of content makes you feel something, you should post it. Speaker 8 (2:33) And toward the end of that day, as the Lama drama was dying down, Holderness got a message on BuzzFeed's Tumblr account. Speaker 1 (2:42) Hey, BuzzFeed, can you look at this thing that I posted? My friends and I are losing it. We're freaking out. And I was just like, well, I don't see what the big deal is. It's a blue and black dress. I leaned over to two of my colleagues who were sitting beside me, and I was just like, hey, guys, what color is this? And at the exact same time, one of them said white and gold, and one of them said blue and black. Speaker 8 (3:06) Her colleagues were looking at the same picture of a dress and seeing completely different colors. Speaker 1 (3:13) They immediately started debating with each other. Speaker 8 (3:16) Their argument drew people in from the rest of the office. Speaker 1 (3:19) Within 10 minutes, there were 20 people standing behind my desk just screaming at each other. just couldn't believe people were seeing it different colors. I was like, if we're fighting about it, maybe the rest of the internet will fight about it. So I threw it up into a BuzzFeed post, hit publish, and then left work. Didn't really think much about it until I got off of the subway. Speaker 1 (3:49) My phone kept crashing. I couldn't load Twitter. And I had dozens of text messages from friends and colleagues and family members saying, you're ruining our lives. Like, what did you do? I looked on Twitter. At that point, I had like several thousand notifications. And everyone was freaking out. It was just like the entire internet was freaking out. It started making the rounds through New York media. Well, it's black and blue or gold and white and has us debating all over. It's gold and white. Blue and black. Yellow and white for sure. Well, my wife says it's blue and black. And then it just spiraled from there. Taylor Swift is tweeting about it now. Kim Kardashian's tweeting about it. It was just, it was absolutely surreal. Most of the people who voted in the poll voted white and gold, which just is bonkers to me because I've never been able to see it white and gold. Speaker 8 (4:48) The dress would go on to become one of the most viral memes to ever break the internet. It drew everyone in from the sidelines in a mostly fun battle over the very nature of our shared reality. Speaker 1 (5:00) I think it went viral because people just love fighting over low stakes things. Speaker 8 (5:10) At the time, it wasn't clear why the dress became such a viral phenomenon. We didn't know it, but the internet landscape was shifting beneath our feet. It wasn't about keeping up with what your friends and family were doing anymore. It was about feeding you content you would click on. And social media companies knew that what people really engaged with was content that was controversial. Content that was divisive. Even things that were supposed to be fun, like the dress, were sparking heated arguments. And as a result, the internet was getting angrier. Speaker 1 (5:47) The number of posts that I saw of people, like, using wildly aggressive language, you know, not only towards me, but towards other people, calling people just the worst names and the worst slurs. I should not have gotten death threats and rape threats for posting a picture of a dress. It's like, really, guys? It's a picture of a dress. It's not that deep. Speaker 8 (6:15) The dress was right there on the crest of a powerful wave. It was both a symbol of harmless internet fun and also a sign of division to come. Speaker 1 (6:26) It's a metaphor for the fact that people can approach an objective fact and be so far divided in how they view and interpret that fact. Speaker 8 (6:39) It's been 10 years since the dress, and today the internet is in a state of turmoil. The line between online and off is increasingly blurred. Fights over the nature of our reality seem to rage every day. But now, the stakes of those fights are higher than ever. And we're left to wonder what went wrong. I Speaker 1 (7:01) think a lot went wrong. I think a whole lot went wrong. The internet we have in 2025 is fractured. Speaker 8 (7:13) How did we get here, to the moment we're in right now, with the internet? A tool designed to give everyone access to all the world's information has become a firehose of lies, hoaxes, and conspiracies. Speaker 6 (7:26) The anti-vaccination movement is growing due to a new wave of conspiracy theories shared through social media. They're Speaker 3 (7:33) forced vaccinating our Speaker 6 (7:34) children. Speaker 8 (7:35) Websites that brought friends together have also become rallying points for hate groups and hotbeds of extremism. Speaker 6 (7:42) The incels are part of a larger online group that's been called the Manosphere. Speaker 8 (7:46) Their frustration festering online can turn violent. But it wasn't always like this. The internet also gave power to the people, and it helped to topple autocracies. Speaker 3 (7:57) Opposition activists organized a march on Facebook. That online energy could actually be converted into on-the-street action. Speaker 8 (8:07) In this season of Long Shadow, we're going to chart the evolution of the Internet from the optimistic days of the dot-com boom to our present moment, a time when the Internet is at the heart of so many of our problems. The story of the internet is also a story of greed. The world's richest companies used algorithms to monetize attention and maximize profit. Algorithms that have changed the way that we interact with each other, online and offline. Speaker 6 (8:35) The short-term dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works. Speaker 8 (8:43) Along the way, we became the product and the target. And we learned that the internet could be turned against us. Speaker 6 (8:50) It's the protesters who've gone on trial. People are being imprisoned and held indefinitely because of what they posted on social media. Speaker 8 (8:57) And used by adversaries abroad to try to destroy America from within. Speaker 3 (9:03) The Russian conspirators want to promote discord in the United States and undermine public confidence in democracy. Speaker 8 (9:12) How did a tool offering so much knowledge drive us into an existential debate over our shared reality? Speaker 3 (9:18) We're living in a post-fact world with fake news, echo chambers, and deep distrust of media. Speaker 8 (9:25) How did a tool with the potential to lift all voices end up amplifying the very worst of them? Speaker 6 (9:31) The result is a system that amplifies division, extremism, and polarization. Speaker 8 (9:35) How did a tool with the ability to fuel democracy become a weapon? aimed at the very heart of it. Speaker 6 (9:42) There is an alignment of interests that runs through Silicon Valley to what is now a coming autocracy. It's a coup. Speaker 8 (9:55) This is the story of mankind's greatest invention. It's also the story of the biggest crisis facing society today. My name is Garrett Graff. From Longlead and PRX, this