Being chronically online is gauche now
Get well soon xx.
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In the early 2020s, people often described themselves as “chronically online.” We all were, to some extent, during the years of the pandemic that kept us perpetually on Zoom. But even as restrictions lifted and the real world was made available to us again, culture remained firmly rooted in the digital space. We talked of “bedrotting” and “doomscrolling” and went through what Tell the Bees referred to as the “mainstreaming of loserdom” as we decided to stay home on our phones instead of socializing.
“Chronically online” never had an entirely positive reputation, but it was once relatable. We’d refer to ourselves as “chronically online” the same way we’d call ourselves “chaotic” or “bad at texting.” There was a unity in being overly plugged in. We were cute little messes with heads full of memes.
But in 2026, something shifted. The shift had been happening for some time, actually, but New Years gave the world a chance to formally verbalize it: Now, we’re all going offline. Whether it’s thanks to tools like Brick, analog hobbies, or simply because being online sucks now, our lack of screen time is a new social indicator.
It wasn’t until my friend Rachel E. Greenspan texted me this last week that I realized: If getting offline is now aspirational, then staying online is now…trashy.
Of course, even the most analog among us are still online—how else would we share our #AnalogBags with the world? But the chronically online, the ones who reference TikTok sounds in real life or have their phones out while socializing, will find that those things now go down about as well as a loud fart. They’re the new equivalent of blowing cigarette smoke in someone’s face, a taboo behavior made all the more cringe if the person doing it still thinks it’s cool.
