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Meet the Internet’s 2024 Award Season Boyfriends

A field guide to internet boyfriends

A field guide to internet boyfriends

Courtesy of Backgrid

What is a white boy of the month? The term originated on the social media app formerly known as Twitter, as most ubiquitous pillars of stan culture do. The Twitter white boy of the month began as a joke poking fun at the cyclical nature of thirst on the internet. Every month, everyone’s feeds erupted with photos and fancams of a new heartthrob — usually a young, white actor or musician with heartthrob hair — only to be replaced weeks later by the latest flavor of the month.

Then came the ranking system. Stan communities pitted their white boys against each other, ranking them according to whether they were hot or not. But soon, as the term entered the mainstream, the internet seemed to come to a consensus: these are all our parasocial boyfriends. We should all just get along.

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Stromae - Alors on danse (Official Video)

Usually, TikTok dances look difficult to replicate, at best, and completely impossible, at worst. But, strangely, the latest trend to sweep the social media platform is set apart by its apparent simplicity.

The "Alors on Danse'' TikTok trend was created by 19-year-old Usim E. Mang — known on TikTok as @usimmango — who posted a video of him and his friends subtly rocking in perfect sync to "Alors on Danse'' by Belgian singer and rapper Stromae. The trend soon took off, with other groups trying to replicate the effortless cool of the original video. Usim's video now has nearly 120 million views, 19 million Likes, and 161,000 comments.

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Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash

There are probably some upsides to living out your adolescence in front of 15 million+ TikTok followers, but it mostly sounds like a great way to guarantee all the trauma of being a teenager is magnified by 15 million.

**Trigger warning: Discussion of Sexual Assault**

In the latest example of a literal child being cancelled by anonymous adults on the Internet, 17-year-old TikTok star Sienna Mae Gomez is facing backlash for allegedly sexually assaulting her ex Jack Wright. Sienna, know for her body positive posts, and Jack, known for his viral dance challenges, have been surrounded by rumors of a romance since early 2020. The two are also co-stars on the new Netflix documentary following the members of the TikTok creator conglomerate known as the hype house.

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Culture Feature

This Haunts Me: "My Immortal" May Be One of the Greatest Works of Postmodern Art

Was "My Immortal" a genuine work of terrible fanfiction, or was it a big ironic joke all along?

For fiction enthusiasts in the early 2000s, Fanfiction.net was the place to be.

In 1998, Fanfiction.net launched as a hub for fanfiction stories. The Internet was still in its Golden Age of lawlessness and creativity, with decentralized fan communities spread across personal websites and niche forums. Each brimmed with their own politics and drama, and for fans of children's novels, especially Harry Potter, fanfiction was serious business.

Battle lines were drawn over which Harry Potter characters you shipped (in explicit detail, usually). Fanfiction with the correct ships would be lauded as the greatest thing since real Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and bad ships would be derided as blasphemy. Dissent could mean being banned forever from the biggest online communities for your favorite series.

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Culture Feature

Myspace Was the Last Good Social Media Site

Myspace was the last social media that recognized the Internet's unique potential for individuality.

Myspace

At some point in 2006, I changed my name on Myspace from "Dan" to "D for Dandetta."

It was my freshman year of high school, and V for Vendetta had just come out in theaters (my friend and I snuck in after buying tickets to see Amanda Bynes' She's the Man). As a young, as-of-then-undiagnosed autistic nerd who thoroughly misunderstood social conventions, I decided that since V for Vendetta was easily the coolest R-rated movie I had ever seen, cute girls would think I was very cool by association if I tailored my online social presence to reflect it.

I made my profile background black to represent the darkness in my heart, and I changed the text color to red because revolution is bloody or something. I also set Vincent Valentine's theme song from Final Fantasy VII, which was edgy and mysterious just like me, to play on my profile in an endless loop.

One girl I had a crush on actually did start calling me "Dandetta." I thought she used it as an affectionate nickname, but in retrospect, probably not. In my defense, my brain was not fully developed.

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Culture Feature

Charli And Dixie D'Amelio Are Canceled: But Did They Do Anything Wrong?

Charli D'Amelio and Dixie D'Amelio are receiving backlash for their behavior in a recent YouTube video.

Our First Mystery Guest | Dinner With The D'Amelios

TikTok superstars Charli and Dixie D'Amelio have been "cancelled" online amidst accusations of entitled behavior.

16-year-old Charli D'Amelio has the most followers of any user on TikTok, 99.5 million, before this recent scandal lost her one million followers, and her 19-year-old older sister isn't far behind with 43.8 million followers of her own.

The teenage sisters began to garner criticism after the release of a new YouTube video on their family channel, which they share with their dad Marc and mom Heidi, called "Our Mystery Guest | Dinner With The D'Amelios."

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