Bo Burnham's song from his special Inside, a satirical take on internet culture, attention and extremism.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN commenters bring it up in threads about the internet, attention economy and smartphones, mostly as a favorite, with a few dissenters.
Song about internet culture from a funny, sad special
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I just watched Inside [1], where Bo Burnham creates a wonderful, funny, sad and thought-provoking "Special" about our internet culture. Highly recommended. This is one of my favourite songs now: [2] It's a bit crazy when I think about how different our generations grow up and it makes me a bit sad that our children will have a completely different understanding of what the internet is. For me it was a place of wonder, freedom and self-expression. It's different today, but even I have problems explaining how it changed. But it definitely lost some if it's playfulness on the way. [1] link [2] this video
Strongly recommendsImustaskforhelpFeb 2026
“Bo Burnham is amazing.”
Song showing the extremism and attention economy of the internet
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This reminded me of this song which actually shows the extremism of things in Internet. Welcome to the Internet - Bo Burnham: this video "Y'know wasn't always like this, not very long ago.. just before your time.. right before the towers fell.. circa 99 this was catalogues, travel blogs a chatroom or two, we set our nights and spent our nights waiting for you." "It was always the plan to put the world in your head." "Could I interest you in everything all of the time? Apathy is a tragedy and boredom is a crime. Everything and anything all of the time" Bo Burnham is amazing. Another (interesting?) song is jefferey bezos song link [Bo Burnham: Inside - Jeff Bezos] Recommend everyone to watch both music if you have the time and the first one for sure.
Recommendssodality2Jun 2021
“I absolutely loved it. Especially "Welcome to the Internet”
Bo Burnham song about internet culture
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Yep- it's totally different from his previous work but I absolutely loved it. Especially "Welcome to the Internet", because I can see firsthand what the song is about. Here's the video on Bo Burnham's own channel: this video
RecommendsPyrodoggAug 2021
“hits this right on head”
Song capturing how the internet and mobile devices suck up attention
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"Apathy's a tragedy and boredom is a crime" - Welcome to the Internet by Bo Burnham[1] This new song from Bo's covid-lockdown inspired special "Inside" hits this right on head. The Internet, particularly when paired with mobile devices just tries to suck up so much attention, because that's exactly what we made it do. [1] this video
Cites itandrewxhillJan 2022Full comment
Why stop at 2000 though? The internet is still full of terrible things today, many of which are the most visible, and most of which are happening because, money. this video Terrible things on the internet don't make all things built on the internet guilty by association. Just like scammers and grifters finding opportunities in web3 don't make all NFTs bad ideas.
Cites itposzlemSep 2022
“Kind of makes me wonder what would those people say if we played them Bo Burnham's Welcome to The Internet from 2021”
Satirical take on the modern internet
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Kind of makes me wonder what would those people say if we played them Bo Burnham's Welcome to The Internet from 2021: this video
Cites itaebtebetenApr 2024
“Which Power Ranger are you? Take this quirky quiz Obama sent the immigrants To vaccinate your kids”
Lyrics used to illustrate the shallow monetised web
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What makes a "world" for me is that there are a few basic rules from which all the gameplay can be derived; something where the basic axioms don't generate a rich theory is just "on rails" and at best a trivial world (something where the basic axioms generate anything and everything is even worse: a degenerate world). What makes a machine "personal" for me is that I need to engage by putting in some creative input in to get anything out; doodling on a sheet of paper is personal, but clicking on and desultorily reacting to some external stream is impersonal. In these senses, the "engagement" of the monetised web is neither personal nor a world: Which Power Ranger are you? Take this quirky quiz Obama sent the immigrants To vaccinate your kids this video
Cites it082349872349872Apr 2024
“It occasionally produces art”
Art produced by the internet generation
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It occasionally produces art: this video EDIT: Mr. Burnham is vintage 1990, so he's a bit too old to have been weaned onto it
Cites itnormalaccessDec 2024
“Relevant social commentary (timestamped)”
Relevant social commentary on devices hijacking attention
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100% correct. Nature does not blink and boop. Just like a drugs out devices hijack people's natural feedback mechanisms and produce an experience that's hyper-real. A two year-old with an iPad becomes unable to handle reality because it's dull by comparison. Relevant social commentary (timestamped): this video
CriticalmetalmanDec 2025
“thanks for the "recomendation" 168 million views”
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thanks for the "recomendation" this video 168 million views edit: thinking about this video, it occurs to me that what is criminalised as subversion, may just be an instinctual reaction to non survial behavior on the part of our ruling class
Joke082349872349872Oct 2024
“Lagniappe”
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I'm with link on this point. In a world where teens are a click away from the referents to "Ma'am I do my own plumbing" and "Wh-what are you doing, steppe peoples?", I'd guess they don't see sex as negative so much as see gratuitous sex, sprinkled in by writers who can't even quote a single midget donkey porn trope properly, as negative. We pay about $60 for an evening for 2 at the movies; for that I'd appreciate having 90-120 minutes of, you know, story. Lagniappe: this video
JokesabatonfanNov 2025
“Welcome to the internet! Have a look around”
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Welcome to the internet! Have a look around ( this video ) Another obligatory song named Jeff bezos by Bo Burnham ( link ) C'mon Jeffrey you can do it! (I mean you can break half the internet with AWS us-east-1, but in all seriousness both songs are really nice lol)
