In part one, we looked at the state of cool in 2025. The word has undergone semantic creep, at once referring to dynamic creative scenes across the globe and the digitally native pop culture that preoccupies the internet today.
Many mistake the forest for the trees:
Rather than ABC, NBC, and CBS, we now have Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook: a young and progressive channel, a high-quality legacy brand, and a conservative, traditional option respectively.
In fourth place, we have the edgy and rebellious challenger X, this metaphor’s corollary to FOX. Assuming MTV’s old role in setting the agenda for youth culture, we have TikTok.
The cliché that the internet has permanently fragmented culture butts up against the fact that we have the same number of dominant channels we’ve always had.
Social media disrupted and displaced the dominant players. Once its work was done, it promptly died. "Friends and family" posts are only a fraction of the content we view online. The internet personality is the new celebrity. Beefs are the new tabloid gossip. Algorithmic slop is the new network television. The new mainstream is online.
This is internet cool.
Part one of the 8Ball report on cool is unpaywalled:
Part two arrives next week. Preview Scene Cool below:
