Review: Long Shadow: Breaking the Internet

Did you know that one of the most dangerous jobs in the world is to be a journalist? To seek truth is one of the things that could get you killed. Words and stories could end a life, but save so many. 

This podcast today, with the reflection of the last six months, feels dangerous. It feels like one of those podcasts that might change the trajectory of a person’s mind. Long Shadow has positioned itself as a feed where listeners will find uncomfortable truths laid out in uncomfortable connections. That is, it looks at one issue and sets down the path to find out why it all happened. 

It is one of the most important actions to be happening right now. People keep looking for answers and solutions to the problems we’re facing. They’re looking for rulebooks that they were told don’t exist, or are wrong. They’re looking for truth, or a direction. Maybe we don’t entirely need an answer to start down the path, though. Maybe we need the story, the reasons, and the reflection on what has been done to the internet, and therefore to the world. 

Long Shadow: Breaking the Internet takes on the question of “enshittification” of the internet from a different angle. Sure, it absolutely sucks that everything is a subscription and content quality is waning - but there’s a deeper story. This podcast takes a deep look at how the internet and social media went from being social, to being a giant slush pile of algorithm, divisiveness, and anger. What was once seen as a tool for democracy and egalitarianism has turned into an overstimulating mess of anger, confusion, and despair.

Yet we keep going back to it. I keep going back to it. I think, because I remember. 

I remember the internet that was more social, more joyful, more fun. I remember the internet that was open for me to learn and explore as much as it was open for people to organize and connect. It feels like a foreign concept now, as I’m not sure how much of my feeds are actually people I intended to follow anymore. I remember the hope of an internet where we could discover so much more than conspiracy and hot takes. It’s like when we first opened the World Wide Web to the masses, we had the idea of “don’t believe what you hear on the internet” because it was new, it wasn’t to be trusted. Then we moved into knowing how to navigate the truth, to now dodging targeted misinformation and disinformation just to get to the banana bread recipe - if it’s even real. It’s exhausting. 

Yet the fact that we are here, we remain. The internet remains. What are we going to do with it? 

Long Shadow isn’t a podcast that gives us answers to that question, to that type of question. In telling the story of the internet from the Arab Spring to the Red Pill corners edging out its competition in controversy - we are given the tools to find the answers. The curtain has been pulled back for us to see, for us to witness, and for us to make sense of.

With interviews with former Google executives turned leaders of rebellion, to MAGA Grandmas, and all the way to Mark Zuckerberg’s own sister exploring Garrett Graff carefully lays out another piece of the puzzle of how we got here. I have to say, this season is incredible on its own. Each season of Long Shadow is incredible on its own. 

The truth is, the world doesn’t exist of single stories. We can follow threads to find color and meaning, like each of these seasons do - but it won’t tell us the full picture. If you listen to this season, the other seasons are also required listening. Not just because it’s done with such a level of journalistic voice and vigor that we are losing - but because it will inform more of the tapestry of the present. Espeically becuase we don’t talk about the last thirty years as much as we talk about sixty to eighty years ago. There is a gap in lived experience, where we don’t want to think about it. We don’t want to remember lockdowns, standoffs, or terrorist attacks. Sure, we mourn those and what we lost - but we don’t want to look too closely at any of it. The closer we get to sunset - the longer our shadows. The closer we get to the darkness, the more important it is to acknowledge what’s right behind us. 

If you’re like me and are heavily online becuase you believe in the hope and power of the internet, these seven episodes will help you sort through some of the reasons why - to maybe help us find the path forward. Episodes are long, closer to 40-50 minutes - but no moment is wasted. Truth is getting harder to find, but some are still looking for it, and are here to remind us of what we lived through. This podcast has won awards in podcasting and journalism, so don’t just take my word for it. Multiple entities have put their own pull behind the quality of this podcast. I’m here to tell you that it’s worth it, because it’s not one of those podcasts that is hard to follow or understand. It’s hard to listen to becuase of how real it is, how recent it is, and the content can be hard to sit with. Which, honestly, we need to be more uncomfortable regularly to get to a better place. 

Like I said, Long Shadow doesn’t provide answers. It provides the context to remind us to find our own. Take a listen, then take a bubble bath, and get ready to make the world a better place at least in your own circle. Listen below.

TLDR: 

Genre: Journalism

Episodes: 7 (+1 Bonus) 

Length: 30-50 minutes

Vibes: Serious, smooth