My Internet: Ross Barkan
The Political Currents writer says the manosphere is not a problem to be “solved.”
Embedded is your essential guide to what’s good on the internet, written by Kate Lindsay and edited by Nick Catucci.
Some weeks, we quiz a “very online” person for their essential guide to what’s good on the internet.
Today we welcome Ross Barkan, a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, columnist for Crain’s, and the author of the newsletter Political Currents. His new novel, Glass Century, will be published in May. Ross believes that Substack is the only ameliorative technological shift for writers in his lifetime and has no interest in ever going viral on Twitter again. —Nick
EMBEDDED: What’s a recent meme or post that made you laugh?
ROSS BARKAN: The only time AI was worthwhile was to let us know what it would be like to hear Joe Biden and Donald Trump sing to each other in a foreign language.
EMBEDDED: What shows up on your TikTok For You page?
ROSS BARKAN: Nothing, because I don’t have a TikTok!
EMBEDDED: Do you tweet? Why?
ROSS BARKAN: Yes, still. I don’t really know why anymore. I came up through journalism in the 2010s and it was practically required to have a Twitter and tweet all the time. I formed relationships there and advanced my career. The current Twitter/X, for a writer, is a true dead space. It makes little difference to me that Elon Musk made it right-wing. The real damage Musk did was throttling links; there’s almost no reason to share your work there, if I still do occasionally, out of habit. I care greatly about my Substack and Twitter used to funnel readers into that, but Musk ended that in 2023 once Substack launched their excellent Twitter competitor, Notes. I spend more time on Notes now, having friendly conversations and growing my newsletter.
EMBEDDED: Do you post on Bluesky, Threads, or Substack’s Notes? Why?
ROSS BARKAN: No to Threads. Threads is terrible. I regret making one because now I can’t delete it unless I delete my Instagram account. Thank you Zuckerberg!
Yes to Notes. I am a great believer in Substack. It’s the only ameliorative technological shift for writers in my lifetime. There’s so much wonderful writing there and I see it, slowly, reinvigorating our tired culture. Having an email list is essential for any writer today, and if you’re not on Substack, you are missing out.
Barely to Bluesky. The idea of recreating Old Twitter strikes me as both exhausting and a bit pathetic. Move on, guys! Go outside and make friends! I have a Bluesky as a sociological move, mostly to monitor what angry liberals might be up to during the second Trump term.
EMBEDDED: What do you use Instagram for?
ROSS BARKAN: Almost nothing. I’ve posted four times and made occasional stories to share with my friends. My following there is pretty small. It’s another platform that’s deeply anti-writer—almost impossible to share links—so I stay away, unless talking to people close to me.
EMBEDDED: What types of videos do you watch on YouTube?
ROSS BARKAN: YouTube eats up more and more of my time. I do believe YouTube still gets underrated by the media and cultural prognosticators. There’s a great deal of focus on TikTok, but it’s YouTube that is going to fully replace cable television in 20 years, dominate the podcast space, and take over music if their bosses want to. Here’s my secret: I pay for YouTube premium and skip all the ads. I have access to the largest music library on Earth. I don’t bother with Spotify. YouTube is where I find all my Beach Boys deep cuts, and everything else brilliant about baroque ’60s pop music that I can’t get enough of. I watch a lot of random news videos, baseball highlights, documentaries, old interviews, commercials, movie clips, whole movies, and anime snippets. YouTube really has everything.
EMBEDDED: Where do you tend to get your news?
ROSS BARKAN: The print NY Times, the print NY Post, news websites, Substack, and many traditional newsletters, like Politico’s NY and DC playbooks. Twitter, a bit. I read a lot of magazines, both online and in print. I am biased since I write for them, but I really do think New York magazine is top notch. A great example of a legacy brand that has stayed ahead of the competition.
EMBEDDED: How do you keep up with the online discourse? How important is it to you to do this?
ROSS BARKAN: I don’t think it’s that important anymore. The less time you spend on Twitter/X, the better. I like to think of myself as an original writer and I think that’s because I don’t get devoured by the online discourse. If you want to know what’s happening in the culture, subscribe to many, many Substacks. There are so many writers tracking the strange moment that we live in, and I devour their work.
EMBEDDED: What’s the last strong opinion you had about a story, topic, or controversy online?
ROSS BARKAN: I’ve had many. I think there needs to be a negotiated peace between Russia and Ukraine, and it needs to happen soon. Since the U.S. is funding the war, the U.S. has to lead the way. Two years ago, I would’ve been called a Russian asset or something worse for having this view, but it’s becoming commonsense. It’s like when I wrote, in 2022, Joe Biden should not run for president again. Much hate came my way, but my track record speaks for itself, and that’s why readers trust me.
EMBEDDED: What are your favorite newsletters?
ROSS BARKAN: There are so many! Here are some of the writers I read regularly on Substack. My apologies to anyone I’ve left out:
EMBEDDED: How do you think Substack has changed media, if at all?
ROSS BARKAN: It’s created a genuine alternative. Substack won’t replace the mainstream media; it will be the supplement, and the corrective. Literary culture is withering in the mainstream and Substack is actively rebuilding it. Each day, more major writers flock to Substack because they understand readers are there. Substack isn’t a panacea. It’s blogging software with a payment processor attached. The genius is in the network. Once you plug in, you meet so many new people and expose yourself to new ways of thinking. I think, in the coming years, more mainstream outlets are going to look to Substack for a form of guidance. No one reading newsletters regularly, for example, would have been surprised by Biden’s utter failure to debate Trump or Trump being able to win another term.
EMBEDDED: What’s one positive media trend? What’s one negative trend?
ROSS BARKAN: The negative is the collapse of local and regional newspapers. That hasn’t abated. I believe public funding will be required to rebuild a lot of these institutions, but I am not sure politicians of either party will endorse the sort of programs that are needed to save local media.
The positive is twofold: the rise of Substack as well as nonprofit news outlets. I am excited by The City and Hell Gate in New York. I am glad ProPublica survives and thrives. San Francisco has a growing media market. There are green shoots out there if you look hard enough.
EMBEDDED: Do you have a take on the “manosphere”? Do you think Theo Von, Joe Rogan, and their peers have shaped young men’s political leanings?
ROSS BARKAN: I don’t know what take to truly have, other than that it exists and will keep existing. It’s not a problem to be “solved.” Von and Rogan aren’t svengalis; they tap into currents that are already out there. Some of it was a backlash to 2010s social justice culture or “woke” and some of it is much more complicated. Some of it is just kids wanting to have an online place to fuck around. Some of it may be misogynistic. Either way, from a political standpoint, ignoring these podcasts is idiotic. A few candidates, like Bernie Sanders, understood this. My prediction is the Democrats running in 2028 will be angling to get on Rogan, get on Von, talk to Lex Fridman—the smart ones, anyway. These podcasts are way bigger than the Kelce brothers’ New Heights, which way too many people fixate on.
EMBEDDED: What’s something that you have observed about the online behavior of Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and/or Boomers?
ROSS BARKAN: All of these are obvious observations. Boomers and Gen X prefer Facebook. Millennials have an attachment to Twitter and Instagram. Gen Z is deeper into TikTok, and Instagram as well. Snapchat seems to be having a resurgence among the young.
EMBEDDED: How do you find recommendations for what to watch, read, and listen to?
ROSS BARKAN: Smart people I trust, especially when it comes to books. Substack can be very helpful.
EMBEDDED: Have you had posts go viral? What is that experience like?
ROSS BARKAN: Yes. I’ve experienced virality on Twitter and Substack. Substack is great—it just means more people comment and sign up, and most of it is not hostile. The only exception was when I declared “brat summer was over” and said Kamala Harris, in early September, wasn’t running a great campaign. A few unhinged Democrats didn’t like that. But my newsletter expanded, so I didn’t care. It helped that I was eventually proven right.
On Twitter, virality is a double-edged sword. I’ve been attacked many times, experienced death threats, had people make fun of me for all kinds of things. In 2020, I was briefly afraid I was going to lose my adjunct teaching job because a bunch of people (pundits, journalists, random fools) piled on me for trying to explain Trump’s working class appeal. Yes, that happened.
I have no interest in ever going viral on Twitter again.
EMBEDDED: Who’s the coolest person who follows you?
ROSS BARKAN: Sarah Silverman still follows me on Twitter. She’s a great comedian. Her Comedy Central show was a favorite of mine back in the day. To be honest, I have no idea why she follows me!
EMBEDDED: Who’s someone more people should follow?
ROSS BARKAN: Mo Diggs, on Substack. His cultural commentary is always prescient. Vanessa Ogle on Substack. Chris Jesu Lee, Naomi Kanakia, Sam Kahn. All Substack. So many of them.
EMBEDDED: Which big celebrity has your favorite internet presence, and why?
ROSS BARKAN: I can’t think of any. Celebrities mostly bore me. I think kids are sick of them too. There’s a whole TikTok trend now built around ignoring someone like JoJo Siwa. I love it.
EMBEDDED: Are you into any podcasts right now? How and when do you usually listen?
ROSS BARKAN: I don’t have time for many podcasts. But when Bret Easton Ellis has a novelist on, I love listening. His chats with Bruce Wagner and Walter Kirn are engrossing. Ethan Strauss (House of Strauss on Substack) has a great podcast.
EMBEDDED: Have you ever been heavily into Snapchat? Do you miss it?
ROSS BARKAN: I don’t miss it because I still have one! I’ve used it to talk to family and friends. It’s fun.
EMBEDDED: When was the last time you browsed Pinterest? What for?
ROSS BARKAN: Never done it
EMBEDDED: How would you describe Tumblr’s legacy?
ROSS BARKAN: I never got into Tumblr. It seemed to have infected a lot of 2010s discourse negatively, but I’m not an expert.
EMBEDDED: Are you in any groups on Reddit, Discord, Slack, or Facebook? What’s the most useful or entertaining one?
ROSS BARKAN: Nope, don’t do any of those. I am a weird person! Reddit occasionally, if I have to search for something.
EMBEDDED: Do you use Slack or Teams for work? What’s the best thing about Slacking with your co-workers? What’s the worst thing?
ROSS BARKAN: I hate Slack. I am a freelancer, thankfully, and don’t need to be in any Slack groups.
EMBEDDED: Do you typically start searches on Google, Reddit, TikTok, or another source? Have you found Google’s “generative AI” summaries helpful?
ROSS BARKAN: I still use Google. I also use DuckDuckGo. Google is getting worse and worse. I avoid AI. Reddit, occasionally, is good for search.
EMBEDDED: What most excites you about AI chatbots and text and art generators? What most concerns you?
ROSS BARKAN: Nothing. I hate AI chatbots. I dislike the prose AI produces. The art is, quite literally, derivative.
I am not concerned about AI except for the fact that it has no serious business model—just burning through cash, so that’s their concern!—and it’s awful for the environment. I am waiting for that bubble to burst. Give it a few years.
EMBEDDED: What is your Wordle starting word?
ROSS BARKAN: I don’t play Wordle. Maybe I should?
EMBEDDED: Do any of your group chats have a name that you’re willing to share? What’s something that recently inspired debate in the chat?
ROSS BARKAN: “The three idiots.” Two friends and I talking politics.
EMBEDDED: What’s your go-to emoji, and what does it mean to you?
ROSS BARKAN: I am not an emoji person!
EMBEDDED: Do you text people voice notes? If not, how do you feel about getting them?
ROSS BARKAN: Nope. I write texts and I write emails, and my emails run too long.
EMBEDDED: Do you pay for a music streaming service, and if so, which one? What’s a playlist, song, album, or style of music you’ve listened to a lot lately?
ROSS BARKAN: As I’ve said, YouTube, YouTube, YouTube. I listen to a great deal of rock music, and I used to be heavily into 2000s indie rock, like Animal Collective, Deerhunter, and Grizzly Bear. I still have a soft spot for Pavement and the Strokes. My friend Craig Heed is a great rock musician and has two different bands, Hit and Miracle Sweepstakes, and each have put out tremendous albums over the last two years. (He’s also got a funny sports Substack). Other modern bands I like include Alvvays, Cults, and the solo act Hatchie.
On the classic front, I listen to a great amount of Beach Boys, Dusty Springfield, Glen Campbell, Carole King, Dionne Warwick, Margo Guryan, Simon & Garfunkel, Velvet Underground, Scott Walker, Beatles, the Association, Martha and the Vandellas, and Fleetwood Mac. I recently became obsessed with “Lady of the Lake,” a song written by Carole King and sung by Peggy Lipton. (Lipton’s whole album, largely forgotten, is actually quite good.) In general, I like a lot of baroque ’60s rock, anything influenced by Spector’s Wall of Sound, anything that features the Wrecking Crew. High production values for me, unless it’s scuzzy indie rock.
EMBEDDED: If you could only keep one streaming service for TV and/or movies, which would it be, and why? What’s a show that you’re really into right now?
ROSS BARKAN: YouTube. I don’t watch much TV or stream these days, but I did enjoy HBO’s The Penguin. The only live TV I consistently watch is baseball.
EMBEDDED: What’s your favorite non-social media app?
ROSS BARKAN: The Substack app.
EMBEDDED: What’s the most basic internet thing that you love?
ROSS BARKAN: Basic? I don’t know. I’ll default to buying records on eBay.
EMBEDDED: Is there any content you want but can’t seem to find anywhere online?
ROSS BARKAN: Now that Substack has arrived, not really. There are so many talented new writers out there. I would like, in general, more book reviews, but that’s also why I’m launching a new book review and literary magazine, The Metropolitan Review! I’ll have more to say on that in January.
EMBEDDED: Do you regularly use eBay, Depop, or other shopping platforms? What’s a recent thing you’ve bought or sold?
ROSS BARKAN: I shop for vinyl records on eBay quite frequently. I also enjoy abebooks.com for used and rare books.
EMBEDDED: Is there a site you like for product recommendations? How do you decide, for example, which air filter to buy?
ROSS BARKAN: I used Wirecutter once to buy my record player and that worked out. Otherwise, I ask friends and acquaintances.
EMBEDDED: Have you recently read an article, book, or social media post about the internet that you’ve found particularly insightful?
ROSS BARKAN: Mo Diggs on Gen Z is a must read.
EMBEDDED: What’s the last thing that brought you joy online?
ROSS BARKAN: Getting to read new Mo Diggs, John Pistelli, and ARX-Han on one Sunday!
Thanks Ross! Subscribe to his newsletter and preorder his novel.
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