(Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash)

Heading into another US election, The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem is a timely look at online rage-click culture, the relevance of which is now more urgent as both political and social extremes continue to drift farther apart into their respective echo chambers. From these isolated corners of the internet, hiding behind fake profiles, individuals hurl insults and ad hominem attacks that further divide society.

At its surface, the documentary chronicles the rise of 4chan from a Japanese message board (2chan) that then spawned Anonymous and an internet movement of young, disenfranchised men. But below this narrative The Antisocial Network underscores the consequences of living a life “extremely online” and the troubling reality that the more time people spend on social media feeds and message boards typing their rage, the more isolated and detached from the real world they become.

This can be seen even (and especially) in extreme activist communities on both the left and the right. The documentary uses the January 6 Capitol riots as an example of this. Here, the anonymity afforded by the internet emboldened people to share misinformation, rumors, and falsehoods, which then spread like a virus and fueled real-world harm.

The Antisocial Network joins a growing list of documentaries, such as The Social Dilemma and The Great Hack, that are raising alarms about the increased polarization caused by the internet and how lonely people find online refuge that only exacerbates their feelings of isolation. A “community of the isolated” is both an oxymoron and accurate way to describe the online echo chambers where both the extreme left and right find an illusory community.

It’s an important reminder—now more relevant than ever—that real life happens in the real world, and that is where we experience the richness of being human.