Writer E. Alex Jung on the Internet Culture of Quarantine

When shelter-in-place began in March, we watched as TV hosts filmed shows from home, unstyled and in casual clothes, and later followed the NBA into its bubble. And we turned to the internet even more for connection and entertainment, spurring a unique “Quarantine Culture” according E. Alex Jung, senior writer at New York Magazine. It’s a culture where, as Jung wrote, "the internet became more internet — an ever-thickening soup of private derangements and niche dramas." Whether it was comedian Sarah Cooper lip-synching Trump’s speeches for the app TikTok, building a virtual world in games like “Animal Crossing” or enjoying the otherwise unlikely opportunity to see your favorite artists perform a show from home — “we were all extremely online,” Jung said. We talk with Jung about the year in “Quarantine Culture” and the forms of entertainment we enjoyed — or made ourselves — on the internet.

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