The Social Pornography Complex

Margo’s Got Money Troubles appears on the jacket to be a book about motherhood and pornography, but it’s really about the internet. But wait, according to internet discourse, the internet novel doesn’t exist. Actually it does exist but can never succeed. Actually it should really be called “the social media novel.” There are many opinions about what an “internet novel” is and whether or not it can be good, yet many have converged around the idea that the internet novel should carry its reader through the feeling of the internet, of being “online,” and it’s not surprising that such novels that invoke this feeling tend to conclude, at least implicitly: social media is bad. Lauren Oyler’s Fake Accounts: Social media is fake and, by the way, it turned my boyfriend evil. Tony Tulathimutte’s Rejection, specifically the story “The Feminist”: Social media turned me evil. Honor Levy’s My First Book: Social media has ruined my brain. Patricia Lockwood’s No One Is Talking About This: It’s ruined mine, too, and did you know, social media is fake? These books aren’t necessarily bad — Patricia Lockwood’s writing is a highlight, her language is a delight, and it glorifies the fun of it all — but they all carry a similar message: Log off. By now, we all understand social media can have harmful effects, yet here we are anyway. Social media is not only not going away, it will continue to have an increasing impact on our inner and outer lives. So what do we do about it?