The Mid: how culture became algorithmically optimised for mass appeal

For episode seven, we're joined by Amy Ireland and Maya Kronic, the authors of Cute Accelerationsim, to explore how cute’s transformative potential is shaping how we see ourselves both on and off-screen, from emojis to coquettes and Hello Kitty. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the viral ‘canthal tilt’ filter and memes asking girls to declare whether they’re ‘cat pretty, bunny pretty, fox pretty or deer pretty’ to recent Burberry and Stella Macartney campaigns, predator vs prey discourse is everywhere online. We unpack these recent trends, tracing their history back to incel looksmaxxing forums and how this all plays into the onrush of girl-coded memes taking over our feeds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the middenning of mass culture to AI upturning our perceived reality and conspiracy theories hitting the mainstream, a lot of things formerly thought to be marginal, fringe and countercultural are now common consumption. At the same time, there seems to be this pervasive sense of weirdness in the air, which is apparent in the content we share, the memes we consume and a general shift towards the supernatural, the paranormal and occult.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode four, we’re joined by meme duo POSTPOSTPOST to explore how the algorithm and top-down trend cycles are shaping the future of shitposting. In the past year, we’ve seen the dwindling of memes across social media, as platforms tighten their grip on censorship, and even the most personal content takes on a glossy, search engine-optimised sheen that’s indistinguishable from advertising. From Oceangate to Donald Trump’s mugshot, meme cycles are getting shorter and shorter, and no longer carry the critical edge they once had, which begs the question: is the golden age of posting over – or is it simply in its flop era?  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For episode three, we’re joined by artist and researcher Jak Ritger to discuss how aliens are fuelling a new wave of government disinformation. From last month’s landmark US congressional hearing to UAP sightings and technologies of unknown origins, aliens have crash-landed back into the mainstream – but what’s the real reason behind all this talk of non-human intelligence and unexplained phenomena? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Enter the Clout Matrix. From the cloutbombing antics of the viral Heaven sofa campaign to scammer culture and the dark side of clout chasing, clout is taking over online discourse. On this episode, we're joined by artist and creative director Ana Viktoria Dzinic to explore how clout is evolving in the internet age – and why unleashing your inner clout demon is an inevitable part of post-capitalism today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Logged On, the new podcast from Dazed with Günseli Yalcinkaya about all things internet culture, from memes to emerging trends, Deep Web conspiracy theories and beyond.Episode 1 – The MidWe're living in a mid-ocracy. Today, culture is algorithmically optimised for mass appeal, serving up platters of pre-packaged cool – whether that’s a Deftones tee, a Fred Again mix or a wavy mirror via your Instagram explore page. On this episode, we're joined by Shumon Basar, the co-author of two books, ‘The Age Of Earthquakes’ and ‘The Extreme Self’, and the author of recent essays on lorecore and endcore, to discuss why everything suddenly feels so... mid. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this A Future World podcast, hosted by Dazed Digital’s Fashion Features Editor Emma Davidson, Bethany Williams and AGF Hydra talk about navigating the fashion industry and finding your voice within it; aligning their brand values in tandem with what the climate emergency demands; how their labels might provide a blueprint for others wanting to set up new systems for their brands with less wasteful production; and how the digitisation of fashion weeks is subverting the industry’s long-standing aura of exclusivity. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this A Future World podcast, hosted by Dazed Digital’s Editor Anna Cafolla, popstar Charli XCX and writer Jia Tolentino talk about the pitfalls of the glossy, consistent, economically-driven platforms that we embed ourselves in every day; the dullness, and inaccuracy, of the pervasive currency of authenticity on social media; and the passionate culture and pace of new internet-forged genres like Hyperpop. They also gush about the platform that feels at once like it’s the future of social media, as well as a space for freedom more akin to what social media websites used to feel like: TikTok, which Tolentino describes as “genuinely anarchic in the way the early internet was, and certainly in ways Instagram and Twitter aren’t.”For Tolentino, the conversation with Charli is a meeting of kindred spirits who “use social media the way that we live in the world”: “I think the way that both of us are attracted to social media and to using the internet (is) fundamentally rooted in an approach to the world, which is an energy for being around people. I think both of us have a real hunger for the world, and for creativity, that is reflected in the way we use social media.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This A Future World episode about NFTs is hosted by former Dazed Arts Editor Ashleigh Kane and the guests are Dee Goens, the co-creator of NFT Marketplace Zora, and Spike editor and arts writer Dean Kissick. Does the rise of the NFT spell the end of the internet being “free” as we know it? What does democratisation, and decentralisation, of the art world actually look like? And why are some people so mad about it?Kissick and Goens tackle these questions and lift lift the veil on how NFTs work, as well as what they actually spell for the art world and all the adjacent audio-visual culture we experience through the lens of the internet. For Goens, “it is 100% revolutionising the understanding of how we own information on the internet. You can now have a provable, canonical first instance of that iconic meme, or that GIF, and the value that that creates over its lifespan can actually accrue back to the provable creator of that meme, (or) that GIF.” For Kissick, there’s more of an open question about how much things will change within the more storied corners of the art world. “I don't think it's going to lead to total democratisation of the arts. (But if) you haven't found yourself where you want to be, or you have no interest in going through a well-trodden path, you're just free to do your own thing. And that's good, right?” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.