I'm Audie Cornish, and this is the assignment.

There was a time when social media was supposed to connect us.

Instead, it's starting to feel more like a trap.

There's a really scary trend happening right now on the internet,

and they're trying to take away your ability to browse anonymously.

For example, governments are rewriting the rules of the internet,

especially for young people.

In the name of safety,

users are being asked to verify their identity for all kinds of sites. Now, the congressman

behind the bill argues it would essentially be like showing your ID at a liquor store if you

want to buy beer. Feeds are shaped by algorithms we don't control. Disinformation spreads fast.

And some topics just disappear.

And so the question becomes, how do you opt out of a system that insists you stay logged in?

For some artists and organizers, the answer isn't new.

It's folded, stapled, and Xeroxed.

The zine. It's a practice. It's a medium. It's an, stapled, and Xeroxed, the zine.

It's a practice, it's a medium, it's an arc form, it's a meditation.

I think every creator has their own definition on how they call it.

Self-published magazines, zines are handmade, deeply analog, no-to-low commitment for the reader,

no platform or password necessary. And for a growing number of Gen Z artists and organizers' zines aren't just nostalgic.

They're a way to connect and resist and create outside the algorithm.

But why would the generation raised on tweets, TikToks and hashtag activism turn to paper?

...