Social Sciences Applied to the Internet

A broader field extending social science methods to the entire internet ecosystem—infrastructure, governance, political economy, and culture. It examines how internet architecture (protocols, data centers, fiber optics) embodies political values, how governance regimes (ICANN, national regulations) shape freedom, and how economic models (surveillance capitalism, gig platforms) reorganize labor and value. It treats the internet not as a neutral network but as a contested social space where power, resistance, and inequality are enacted.

Example: “His work on social sciences applied to the internet traced how the shift from net neutrality to privatized data flows concentrated economic power in a handful of platform companies, reshaping global digital rights.”

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal March 24, 2026

Human Sciences Applied to the Internet

The application of humanities disciplines to the internet as a cultural and historical artifact. It examines the internet’s intellectual genealogy (from military research to counterculture to commercial sphere), its representation in literature and art, its impact on concepts of authorship and intellectual property, and the ethical frameworks emerging from networked life. It treats the internet as a text, a set of practices, and a space for meaning-making that requires interpretation, not just measurement.

*Example: “Her dissertation used human sciences applied to the internet to analyze how early internet utopianism—once celebrated as liberatory—became the ideological foundation for surveillance capitalism, showing the continuity between 1990s rhetoric and present-day platform power.”*

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal March 24, 2026

Cognitive Sciences Applied to the Internet

A field that studies how human cognition interacts with the internet’s technical features: hyperlinks, search engines, multitasking environments, algorithmic recommendations. It investigates how the internet changes the way we think—distributed cognition, the Google effect on memory, the impact of constant interruptions on sustained attention, and the cognitive cost of navigating digital interfaces. It provides evidence for how the internet reshapes mental habits, both enabling and constraining thought.

Example: “Cognitive sciences applied to the internet revealed that relying on search engines changes how we remember: we recall where to find information rather than the information itself, outsourcing memory to the network.”

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal March 24, 2026

Critical Analysis of the Internet

A critical approach within internet studies that examines the internet through lenses of power, capital, colonialism, and ideology. It challenges the narrative of the internet as inherently liberating, revealing how it reproduces and amplifies existing inequalities: digital divides, surveillance infrastructure, platform capitalism, algorithmic discrimination, and the extraction of value from users. Critical analysis also explores counter‑movements: net neutrality activism, open source communities, digital rights advocacy, and attempts to build decentralized, community‑owned networks. It insists that the internet is not a given but a contested terrain.

Example: “His critical analysis of the internet traced how Silicon Valley’s ‘connectivity’ rhetoric masked the construction of a global surveillance apparatus—not liberation, but control.”

by Dumu The Void March 30, 2026

I love the internet

when that fluff fic you wrote for that new character ended up posted right after porn of them
See also: I hate the internet

"huh. I wonder how many have also done this character given that hes new"
"33!? ALREADY!? Damn yall are fast."
"Wonder what they are."
"Okay, there's mine of course, and then-"
wtf
"I love the internet."

by I have autism January 13, 2026

I hate the internet

when that fluff fic u posted for that new character ended up right after porn of them
See also: I love the internet

"huh. I wonder how many have also done this character given that hes new"
"33!? ALREADY!? Damn yall are fast."
"Wonder what they are."
"Okay, there's mine of course, and then-"
wtf
"I hate the internet."

by I have autism January 13, 2026

I'll see you on the internet

Another way of saying "I'll see you later" this term transforms the physical presence of someone and assumes that the next interaction with the other person will be virtual.

Person 1: It was great talking with you but I have to run to a meeting in downtown.
Person 2: No worries, I'll see you on the internet.

by AFallet1 October 27, 2022