Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Old Bo Burnham Rant About Social Media's Desire To 'Colonize Every Minute Of Your Life' Goes Viral

Old Bo Burnham Rant About Social Media's Desire To 'Colonize Every Minute Of Your Life' Goes Viral
Rich Fury/Getty Images

While promoting his film 'Eighth Grade' in 2018, Burnham ranted about the side effects of social media companies needing to show growth to investors.

In recent years, the dark side of social media has become more and more apparent with each passing day. Perhaps nobody knows this better than comedian and filmmaker Bo Burnham.

In the wake of Elon Musk's recent purchase of Twitter and the changes he's already made to the platform, a rant from Burnham about social media companies' nefarious goals has resurfaced and gone viral.


Delivered during a 2018 Q&A while promoting his film Eighth Grade, Burnham spoke about the ways social media platforms strive to "colonize every minute of your life" and use each of us as a profit center.

See his rant below.

Perfectly describing the dystopia we seem to be falling ever more deeply into, Burnham explained that as publicly traded companies, social media platforms must find ways to produce infinitely increasing profits. The only way to do that is to sell our attention to advertisers.

As he put it:

"They're coming for every second of your life..."
"...It's because these companies like Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram, and everything, they went public and they went to shareholders, so they have to grow. Their entire models are based off of growth—they cannot stay stagnant..."
"It has to get more of you."

Burnham went on to compare the industry to the old-fashioned way of building empires—colonization.

"We used to colonize land. That was the thing you could expand into, and that's where money was to be made."
"We colonized the entire earth. There was no other place for the businesses and capitalism to expand into."
"And then they realized human attention..."

Burnham then said this hunger for ever more profit is leading social media companies to attempt to "colonize" our every waking moment.

"They are now trying to colonize every minute of your life... Every single free moment you have is a moment you could be looking at your phone, and they could be gathering information to target ads at you. That's what's happening."
To say Burnham's words resonated with people on Twitter would be an understatement.


Burnham, who began his career as a teen on YouTube and attributed his mental health issues to growing up online, has made criticism of social media a theme throughout his work.

Aside from Eighth Grade which centers on a social media-obsessed tween, Burnham went even deeper into the issue in his 2021 comedy special Inside, which was filmed in his home during the COVID-19 lockdown and went on to win an Emmy and a Peabody Award.

More from News

Finn Wolfhard
Bruce Glikas/WireImage/Getty Images

'Stranger Things' Star Reveals Sweet Reason He Still Lives With His Parents Despite His Fame

Finn Wolfhard still lives with his parents at the age of 22 despite his Stranger Things fame.

After filming the final moments of Stranger Things and preparing for fans to be in the whirlwind of the ending, Wolfhard returned to his family's home in Vancouver, Canada.

Keep ReadingShow less
Baseball Reporter Called Out After Asking For Woman's Number On Live TV
FanDuel Sports Network

Baseball Reporter Called Out After Asking For Woman's Number On Live TV

An Atlanta Braves sideline reporter is facing backlash after asking for a fan’s phone number during Monday night’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

During a mid-game segment, reporter Wiley Ballard spoke with two fans, Lauren and Kayla, who were hanging out on the Rogers Centre’s rooftop patio. After a few questions, Braves play-by-play announcer Brandon Gaudin joked on air that Ballard had “five innings, four innings to get the numbers.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Gayle King; Alan Shepard
Entertainment Tonight; Space Frontiers/Getty Images

Gayle King Just Compared Herself To Alan Shepard After Her Space Flight—And The Mockery Was Swift

The all-woman Blue Origin space flight doesn't seem to have elicited the response from the public that anyone involved expected, and CBS Mornings host Gayle King isn't having it.

Waves of criticism have been leveled at the participants for their out-of-touch statements about the trip, the expense and pollution of which have struck many as a "let them eat cake" moment in these times.

Keep ReadingShow less
Nancy Mace
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Pre-K Teacher Goes Viral For Her Clapback After Nancy Mace's 'LGBTQ' Alphabet Gripe

South Carolina MAGA Republican Representative Nancy Mace has used her hatred to make a name for herself, and "transphobe" and "TERF" are an integral part of that name.

If Mace isn't spouting transphobic slurs on the floor of Congress or in public appearances in the Midwest, she's posting her hate online.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at rally
@Acyn/Blue Sky

Someone Flew A 'Trump Country' Banner Over Bernie And AOC's Packed Rally—And AOC Clapped Back Hard

Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had the perfect response after one of President Donald Trump's supporters flew a banner reading "Folsom Is Trump Country" over a Northern California rally she held with her colleague, Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders.

She brushed off a warning that they were entering “Trump country” as the crowd swelled in deep-red Folsom, a Republican stronghold nestled in Representative Kevin Kiley’s district. Just to drive the point home, a small plane buzzed above the rally, trailing a banner in bold red letters: “Folsom Is Trump Country.”

Keep ReadingShow less