How do you reckon with the internet when writing a story that takes place in the present day or near future? Writing about online living feels tacky for some reason, even though it might be the only thing we have left in common.
Many contemporary novels, television shows, and films sidestep the issue by retreating into the ’70s or ’80s. Other stories leap into a decimated future without electricity, let alone email. They depict an offline world in the wake of infrastructural collapse or intergalactic warfare. But maybe there’s no need to be so dramatic. More likely, the internet will soon become so choked with horseshit that it will become increasingly untenable. Perhaps we’ll just walk away. Imagine it: the year is 2030 and we’re laughing at how unhappy our noisy screens made us, all the misunderstandings they caused.
