You're listening to How to Be a Better Human. I'm your host, Chris Duffy.

Today on the show, we're going to try and unpack something that I've been personally struggling with for a while now.

What does it mean to try to be a better human on social media? Is it even possible?

Because so many of the lessons that I've learned from guests on this show feel especially challenging

to put into place online. How do you treat other people with respect? How do you set boundaries?

How do you take care of yourself? How do you attempt to improve the world we live in while you're

on these platforms that have been such a big part of our daily lives? For a long time, I would have told you that I, I just genuinely have no clue how to do that.

And I also would have struggled to articulate a reason about why it is so difficult.

But then I read a book by today's guest, Catherine Cross.

It's called Log Off, Why Posting and Politics Almost Never Mix.

And Logoff is a thoughtful, nuanced, and provocative argument that we are going to talk to

Catherine about today.

Here's a clip.

So for many years, I've been something of a techno-optimist.

Like, I got into researching technology because I was overwhelmed with the sense of

possibility of identity reinvention and possibility that emerged from places like online

role-playing games, for instance, which is how I discovered a lot about myself. And so, I had this

overriding sense that there was a lot about these emergent technologies that could be used

for good, and I wanted to pursue that. And then by 2013, 2014, we began to see these long-simmering

harassment campaigns that have been, like, directed against women and people of color in the

gaming space explode from like seasonal storms into just an on running like radioactive event in the

form of Gamergate which seemed to pressage something very dark that was moving slowly but surely

...