Folklore Institute

“Rather, the idea that my sense of self, my sense of who I am and who I belong to, can expand through connecting with people I know and do not know through all the things I love, be they embodied practices (I’m getting really into shape note singing) or online book groups, reveals the best, and also the most dangerous, thing the Internet can do: which is to expand and yes, transform, my sense of self. Entering the digital landscape, for worse and for better, means entering an exponentially social space: a place where culture overwhelms us: a realm not just of human language but of hyper-language: where just about everything we encounter, and every rule we follow, is of human origin.”

“Rather, the idea that my sense of self, my sense of who I am and who I belong to, can expand through connecting with people I know and do not know through all the things I love, be they embodied practices (I’m getting really into shape note singing) or online book groups, reveals the best, and also the most dangerous, thing the Internet can do: which is to expand and yes, transform, my sense of self. Entering the digital landscape, for worse and for better, means entering an exponentially social space: a place where culture overwhelms us: a realm not just of human language but of hyper-language: where just about everything we encounter, and every rule we follow, is of human origin.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/thelostword/p/the-internet-is-a-city