A Short Essay on Society's Lost Fight for Individualism Against the Internet

Note: A late night writing session. This was created in bed after I got bored of doom scrolling all day lol:)

The initial prompt I came up with stated: "What would the world look like if the internet abruptly ceased to exist?" What follows this note is the trail of thought my brain led me to.

At 7:00am, the sun would peak over the neighboring buildings and shine a holy light into the window pane, through the narrow workings of my blinds and past the furthest corner of my window curtains as a friendly reminder of the start of my day. No room for doom scrolling, streaming or playing meaningless youtube videos. Simply arising at the faint stillness of a mourning dove and the hum of a passing chevy cruise. Leaving no space for doom and gloom; end times notifications alerting me at my every move. This liberty allows me to take my first chilled glass of water from my refrigerator at ease.

A morning like this is what I'd dream to have. To truly experience the ever present reminder that my life is my own without being disillusioned from my own reality then flung into the collective human consciousness infected by hatred, bigotry and an unnecessary polarization of the human peoples across our globe. I dream of the day art can be shared with room for discourse without the swarm of controversial takes meant to destabilize the ability for groups of people to think for themselves. A day where we build our own opinions from our own lived experiences without relying on the foundation that another stranger built, only to impress another group of strangers.

An afternoon where individualism thrives at a lunch table shared by strangers bearing the strength and courage to be themselves… instead of perpetuating the idea of a version of you that you deemed acceptable at said lunch table. Maybe then, this pandemic  of male loneliness might begin to fade away, ushering in our happily ever after? Maybe through moving forward out of this chaos of an algorithmically curated hellscape of of an internet leaving many of its netizens handcuffed, confined and imprisoned to content on their feed even as it maybe slowly poisoning their ability to have empathy or bare compassion with someone who looks other than they do, walks different than they do or dances on a different beat than you do.

An evening where I can sing my songs  of the strange life I've lived as a black queer man in this country without facing scrutiny from a stranger on the internet dubbing me an “example of Black Fatigue” in my own comment section. What if the weight of the fatigue your feeling isn't to be placed on anyone but yourself. With each and every time we log into these social media apps, turn on our televisions, spew hateful rhetoric and uphold systems of oppression over groups of people, we’ve all grown tired. You're so tired of hearing us complain about how tired we are and the simple answer to end all of the fatigue is to simply stop. Just stop. Stop being hateful. Stop being a bigot. Stop pretending, learn to exist. Stop logging in, stop scrolling and take time to literally imagine who you'd be without the internet. 

A night where you fall asleep without comparing your shortcomings and insecurities to strangers on the internet or people you haven't spoken to in three years. A night where you notice the stars in the sky and genuinely stop to take a look for a moment… and enjoy the experience of taking a deep breath in and smiling in silence while you finally have the chance to.. Before logging into Instagram to post a picture of the sky with a corny song to match the vibe that only you will pay note of.

Stephan LaFortune 10/01/25