I often get the feeling that there are several internets, all being used and watched at the exact same time. My internet is different to my sisters’ internets and my friend’s internet. I’m reminded of this every time I have to explain a meme I’ve seen 100 times on my internet, or when I hear about a podcast for the first time and realise everyone I know has been listening to it for years on their internets.

A great example of this came in 2016, when the election of Donald Trump showed how social media sites like Facebook had been so effective in siloing information that people were exposed to such distinctly different versions of the same events; the people who saw positive news stories about him never saw similar stories about his adversaries, and those further to the left were taken by surprise at his victory because their news and media had represented him so adversely.

Being in a classroom together is kind of a way to blur the lines between everyone’s different internets…