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social media

60 German universities leave X

John Fea   |  January 13, 2025

In case anyone was wondering, I still do not have my X account back. And I am not losing much sleep over it, probably for the same reasons 60 German universities and research universities are not losing too much sleep […]

The “cultural and political rot” that led to the January 6, 2021 insurrection

John Fea   |  January 6, 2025

Here is a taste of Charlie Warzel and Mike Caulfield’s piece, “The Internet Is Worse Than a Brainwashing Machine“: Conspiracy theorizing is a deeply ingrained human phenomenon, and January 6 is just one of many crucial moments in American history […]

Carlos Lozada: “Whenever someone agrees wholeheartedly with something I write, I die a little inside.”

John Fea   |  January 1, 2025

“Knee-jerk agreement” makes The New York Times columnist “suspicious.” Here is a taste of Lozado’s column: I know opinion columnists are supposed to be in the persuasion business, and that makes agreement the coin of the realm. But instant, knee-jerk […]

I no longer control my own X feed

John Fea   |  December 10, 2024

Someone hacked my X feed over the weekend. Nothing on the feed since December 7, 2024 is my work. (My last post was a repost about St. John’s basketball). My X biography was altered (it has now been wiped clean) […]

Ideas in Progress: Zachary Sheldon on evangelical celebrities on Instagram

Zachary Sheldon   |  July 11, 2024

How have evangelical celebrities used Instagram? The subcultures tell stories of their own.

Stacks and stacks of books

Jon D. Schaff   |  July 3, 2024

Down with the book-stack shelfies!

Social media “created ‘an alternate universe’ in which identity-based suffering—or merely the claim to such…could be converted into social capital.”

John Fea   |  February 17, 2024

I just finished reading Thomas Chatterton Williams’s fascinating piece at The Atlantic on Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Michael R. Jackson. Here is a taste: In the summer of 2020, the playwright Michael R. Jackson received an unusual message from a fan of A […]

What MAGA culture looks like in 8,000 responses to a David French tweet about leaving the platform

John Fea   |  October 28, 2023

Last week we saw how the MAGA evangelical wing responded to a Russell Moore tweet thanking Joe Biden for his support of Israel. Today it is New York Times columnist, evangelical conservative, and dogged anti-Trumper David French‘s turn to take […]

Princeton historian Kevin Kruse is done with Twitter (X)

John Fea   |  October 10, 2023

Back in 2018, in Episode 34 of The Way of Improvement Leads Home Podcast, we talked with Princeton historian Kevin Kruse about his use of Twitter to engage with the public. At the time, he had over 84,000 followers. A […]

“The notion of a unified Italian culture in America is something of a recent invention.”

John Fea   |  August 12, 2023

Over at The Baffler, Michael Nicholas writes: “Today, as Italian Americans continue marrying non-Italians, and membership in ethnic/fraternal organizations has declined, social media often facilitates the performance of a shared identity.” He’s talking about stuff like this: Here is a […]

I aspire to become an influencer

John Fea   |  April 19, 2023

Actually, I don’t. But in a recent piece at The Atlantic Katherine Hu wonders if “influencing” is the “new American dream.” Here is a taste: Fifty-four percent of young Americans would become an influencer if given the chance. This statistic, from […]

Does social media hurt college applications?

John Fea   |  February 17, 2023

A recent Washington Post piece argues that Gen Z’s “digital footprints” will haunt them. Here is Tatum Hunter: Aly Drake says she used TikTok like a diary. When she felt friendless, she’d make a video about it. When she noticed […]

It Twitter goes away, “how will people find quick justice?”

John Fea   |  January 10, 2023

Here is a taste of Atlantic writer Kaitlyn Tiffany’s piece, “Twitter Was the Ultimate Cancellation Machine.” Whatever else it is, Twitter is a place where the average person can subject others to their displeasure. They have been mistreated by Southwest […]

“Experiments in how to capture attention rather than deepen it”

John Fea   |  December 12, 2022

I’ve spent some time studying early American Quakers. This religious group featured prominently in my doctrinal dissertation and I once toyed with writing a book about an early 19th-century Quaker farmer. Perhaps Ezra Klein is onto something in his recent […]

Why didn’t we impeach and remove this guy from office when we had the chance?

John Fea   |  October 1, 2022

The latest from Trump’s social media platform: This post is inspired by Digby and David French. Here’s French: Of course not everyone agrees with me, Digby, or French.

Can the United States Constitution survive the social media age?

John Fea   |  August 16, 2022

The United States Constitution, James Madison argued, only works when people are spread-out geographically. Social media shrinks that distance. Here is a taste of political scientist Danielle Allen’s piece at The Washington Post. When we teach constitutional history, we often […]

The death of nostalgia?

John Fea   |  August 2, 2022

The Internet and social media is killing it. Here is Sam Leith at The Spectator: Nostalgia depends to a large extent on the ability to misremember. The canonical form of nostalgia, captured in the Portuguese loan-word saudade, is longing for a […]

Doug Mastriano’s connection with Gab

John Fea   |  July 29, 2022

What is Gab? It is a right-wing platform used by right-wing extremists. Consider: The shooter in the October 2018 shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue used Gab to announce his murder of 11 people. In 2020, Gab hosted the accounts of […]

Are intellectuals and historians “yoking their reputations to the delirious churn of outrage media?”

John Fea   |  June 21, 2022

Joseph Keegin, the editor of The Point, gives us a lot to think about in this piece at The Chronicle of Higher Education. Here is a taste: As academic humanities departments shed undergraduates and lose both prestige and funding, professors […]

A conversation with Felicia Wu Song, author of Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence, and Place in the Digital Age

John Fea   |  May 28, 2022

This week I joined Current editors Eric Miller and Felicia Wu Song for a conversation on Felicia’s new book Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence, and Place in the Digital Age. The entire interview is available to Deep Water and Storm […]

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