Is the internet a person or a place? Are we what we search for? Is social media a panacea or Pandora’s box for loneliness? Inspired by Joanna McNeill's book Lurking, the course “R U Online?” will investigate how social media and the internet muddy our human identities and digital personas. How does social media influence our desire to connect, our ability to organize ourselves in relation to one another, build community, and nurture lasting deep friendships or romances? We will attempt to make sense of our digitized world through group discussions of essays, films, media, and creative exercises like turning our search history into poems. Using our collective imagination, participants will become architects designing a better internet and ways to conduct our digital/physical selves and worlds. If the internet is a person, should it be friendly? If it's a place, is it an oasis or a nuclear wasteland? What if Siri loved us? Participants will have the chance to create a project in the medium of their choice in response to the course material. Together we will compile our findings, discussion, and projects into a "manifesto," i.e. e-book/zine/Tumblr on digital/physical intimacy.

This class will be held in-person at the Abrons Arts Center.