I’ve been thinking a lot about dead internet theory - I don’t think people really recognize that real humans are part of perpetuating it by recycling/regurgitating the same (almost verbatim) political/social “discourse” slop on 2026 Substack as they did on 2020 Canva-generated Instagram carousels as they did on 2018 Twitter as they did on 2012 Tumblr - and worse, thinking they independently came up with these brilliant takes, when I’m like child, I read this exact thread a decade ago. We subconsciously absorb what’s already out there and repeat it like it’s our own thoughts.

I also see memes that made the rounds YEARS ago - including ones that have long since been debunked - go through a hot minute of making the rounds again. The Zombification of content is so tiring.

I can’t decide if this is just a natural consequence of Gen Z coming of internet age and “discovering” the online culture Millennials built which is agonizingly stale by now, or if this is just the end stage of the natural death of the internet. Something tells me, however, that it’s going to become an undead internet, rather than dead, in that we just wish it would end but like an annoying reply-all email or forum mega-thread, someone will keep “bumping” it with new replies.