My Internet: Sean Monahan
The writer and trend forecaster says everyone should rewatch ‘The Last Days of Disco.’
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
, a writer and consultant who publishes the newsletter 8Ball and founded the trend forecasting collective K-HOLE, which coined “normcore” and identified the “vibe shift.” Sean plays music videos when he hosts an afters, believes that Tumblr had disastrous consequences for the Democratic party, and found the article “The Vanishing White Male Writer” insightful.
EMBEDDED: What’s a recent meme or post that made you laugh?
SEAN MONAHAN:
EMBEDDED: Do you tweet? Why?
SEAN MONAHAN: Not anymore. Doesn’t seem good for anyone—other than X—to become a main character on the platform.
EMBEDDED: Do you post on Bluesky, Threads, or Substack’s Notes? Why?
SEAN MONAHAN: I mostly use Substack Notes to promote posts. Sometimes I beta test an idea in Notes to see if I should write about something at greater length.
EMBEDDED: What do you use Instagram for?
SEAN MONAHAN: To DM. I don’t always have everyone’s phone number. Sometimes I share a link to a Substack post in Stories.
EMBEDDED: What types of videos do you watch on YouTube?
SEAN MONAHAN: Music videos. If I host a party or an afters, I turn on YouTube. It always replays the same twenty or so videos, which is good enough. It’s a distraction from hosting duties to have to actively choose music or a playlist.
EMBEDDED: Will you miss TikTok if it is eventually banned, and if so, what will you miss most about it?
SEAN MONAHAN: I don’t look at it much. I have younger accomplices that send me relevant content.
EMBEDDED: Is TikTok a national security threat if it remains under Chinese ownership?
SEAN MONAHAN: Absolutely. It’s deranged that a foreign power with whom we have a touchy-at-best relationship controls one of our largest information platforms. The Chinese wisely do not allow American platforms to operate in their country.
EMBEDDED: Where do you tend to get your news?
SEAN MONAHAN: I scroll X.
EMBEDDED: How do you keep up with the online discourse? How important is it to you to do this?
SEAN MONAHAN: I scroll X. But also, I have friends much more addicted to X than I am who send me content via text.
EMBEDDED: What’s the last strong opinion you had about a story, topic, or controversy online?
SEAN MONAHAN: Smartphones are bad for you.
EMBEDDED: What are your favorite newsletters?
SEAN MONAHAN: I’m going to sound like an asshole since I have a newsletter—but I don’t read any consistently. As I once told my friend Jordan Richman: if you write, you shouldn’t read things similar to your output. I mostly read fiction and history.
EMBEDDED: How do you think Substack has changed media, if at all?
SEAN MONAHAN: It’s put a great deal of pressure on mainstream outlets to offer better compensation. I won’t lie. Substack usually brings in 4x to 5x as much money per post as I get offered by mainstream outlets. It makes more economic sense to write on Substack and get coverage in mainstream outlets when a post or an idea really takes off.
EMBEDDED: What’s one positive media trend? What’s one negative trend?
SEAN MONAHAN: I think it’s great that so many young people are writing for small independent publications. Obviously, it isn’t always high quality. But the same can be said for The New Yorker and The New York Times. That said, there is too much content and we don’t have a great aggregation mechanism for content of quality.
EMBEDDED: Do you have a take on the “manosphere”? Do you think personalities like Joe Rogan, Lex Fridman, and Theo Von have shaped young men’s political leanings?
SEAN MONAHAN: Absolutely. I have a younger brother who exclusively consumes content from podcasts. That said, I don’t think he’s an adherent of the “manosphere.” He’s a politically disengaged centrist Democrat. He’s interested in finance, fitness, lifestyle, and out-there narrative content. People forget that politics is only 10 percent of Rogan’s output.
EMBEDDED: Do you believe that the “artificial general intelligence” and “superintelligence” that many AI boosters have warned of actually pose a risk to humanity?
SEAN MONAHAN: Of course it will. So does the internet. So does nuclear fission. Ultimately all technology has good and evil applications. So far we have dodged those bullets. We’ll have to wait and see about AI.
EMBEDDED: What’s something that you have observed about the online behavior of Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and/or Boomers?
SEAN MONAHAN: Millennials have locked into Instagram behaviors that are now ten years old. I hated when people began photographing their food, but I don’t see that behavior stopping anytime soon. I’ve given up on complaining about it. I resign myself to waiting a few minutes to begin eating after I’ve been served at a restaurant.
EMBEDDED: How do you find recommendations for what to watch, read, and listen to?
SEAN MONAHAN: I’ve been listening to a young London band, Bassvictim. For reading, I’m currently on an E.M. Forster kick. Everyone should watch or rewatch Last Days of Disco. It feels very relevant to Millennials right now—even though it’s about our parents’ generation, the Baby Boomers.
EMBEDDED: Have you had posts go viral? What is that experience like?
SEAN MONAHAN: Only second hand via media coverage: normcore and the vibe shift. I would say it’s like working out: unpleasant at first, but in the end you do get something out of it.
EMBEDDED: Who’s the coolest person who follows you?
SEAN MONAHAN: I have no idea. I do not look at my followers closely.
EMBEDDED: Who’s someone more people should follow?
SEAN MONAHAN: Similarly, I don’t really pay attention to who I follow. It’s all algorithmic anyways. The internet behavior I dislike most is when my friends begin discussing the courtly minutiae of who follows who and who unfollowed who and why. It’s incredibly boring. I’d rather they began telling me about their dreams—still pretty boring, but every once in a while you hear something hilarious or batshit crazy.
EMBEDDED: Which big celebrity has your favorite internet presence, and why?
SEAN MONAHAN: The Olsen twins, because they’ve never used any social media—ever.
EMBEDDED: Are you into any podcasts right now? How and when do you usually listen?
SEAN MONAHAN: No. I feel like my answers are boring. I really do use a “neighbor method” to the internet. Friends and accomplices tell me about what they’re into and that guides my media diet.
EMBEDDED: Have you ever been heavily into Snapchat? Do you miss it?
SEAN MONAHAN: Never was on the platform.
EMBEDDED: When was the last time you browsed Pinterest? What for?
SEAN MONAHAN: With my mother, she was looking for a fun Christmas nails design.
EMBEDDED: How would you describe Tumblr’s legacy?
SEAN MONAHAN: It elevated a certain frame of politics that was appropriate for teenagers to the national stage with disastrous consequences for the Democratic party.
EMBEDDED: Are you in any groups on Reddit, Discord, Slack, or Facebook? What’s the most useful or entertaining one?
SEAN MONAHAN: No. Again, I just talk to friends. Mostly on the phone, in person, or via text.
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?
SEAN MONAHAN: Thank god no. Or at least not currently. Real Eye of Sauron vibe on all of those. When clients have requested it, I find it wastes an incredible amount of time.
EMBEDDED: What is your Wordle starting word?
SEAN MONAHAN: I forget. I only played during COVID and I’ve repressed my memories of that time.
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?
SEAN MONAHAN: One is called “Over the Hill.”
EMBEDDED: What’s your go-to emoji, and what does it mean to you?
SEAN MONAHAN: Laughing crying face emoji. Makes me feel very old every time I use it. But I find using emojis at all is geriatric Millennial behavior, so I haven’t bothered to try and update it.
It is what it is.
EMBEDDED: Do you text people voice notes? If not, how do you feel about getting them?
SEAN MONAHAN: Sometimes. It’s a red flag if they keep them. They’re for communicating things you don’t want in writing. Or they were until Apple began auto-transcribing them. You have to use the phone if you want to be off the record now.
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?
SEAN MONAHAN: Yes, Apple Music. I’m listening to post-punk, disco, and electroclash—and their contemporary revivals. Also a lot of indie rock from the ’80s and ’90s. I rediscovered my love for the Pixies and Les Savy Fav this spring.
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?
SEAN MONAHAN: Max, because I’m only watching White Lotus right now. I’m a great lover of television. But the current crop of shows is mostly disappointing.
EMBEDDED: What’s your favorite non-social media app?
SEAN MONAHAN: The Notes app, I guess. I use it a lot to jot down ideas.
EMBEDDED: What’s the most basic internet thing that you love?
SEAN MONAHAN: Free international calls via FaceTime audio.
EMBEDDED: Is there any content you want but can’t seem to find anywhere online?
SEAN MONAHAN: I want to watch the nineties Real World seasons—especially Boston and Seattle. But they’re nowhere to be found. Once again MTV is leaving money on the table.
EMBEDDED: Do you regularly use eBay, Depop, or other shopping platforms? What’s a recent thing you’ve bought or sold?
SEAN MONAHAN: I don’t really shop online besides for some skincare products from Amazon. It’s the only place I can restock all in one go.
EMBEDDED: Is there a site you like for product recommendations? How do you decide, for example, which air filter to buy?
SEAN MONAHAN: I usually just buy the cheapest or most recommended option on Amazon.
EMBEDDED: Have you recently read an article, book, or social media post about the internet that you’ve found particularly insightful?
SEAN MONAHAN: “The Vanishing White Male Writer” by Jacob Savage in Compact. I was shocked and not shocked to learn no white men born after 1980 had been published in The New Yorker. I guess there were a lot of explicit declarations to exclude white men from consideration over the last decade, so I shouldn’t be too surprised.
EMBEDDED: What’s the last thing that brought you joy online?
SEAN MONAHAN: I ordered a Block, which is an app that turns applications on and off on your phone, but only when a special magnet is attached. I am excited to receive mine when I get back to Los Angeles. I’ve wanted a dumb phone for a while, but as a non-driver in Los Angeles access to Uber is essential. I am very excited to “brick” my phone except for Uber, Phone, and Messages.
Thanks Sean! Subscribe to his newsletter.
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Bassvictim's incredible, grateful for the recco or I would never have come across them! Also appreciate the reminder to avoid reading things too close to your desired output as a writer.
I feel like this guy just really hates social media lmao