The Real Horror of the Internet

Halloween celebrates ghosts — but the scariest ones today live online.

And not the “strangers” my mother warned me about either.

The real horror is exposure.

I grew up online. The internet remembers everything... even the things we wish it didn’t. (Hello, old YouTube account I can’t access. 👋)

Now, as a designer and a parent, I think about what that means, not just for our kids, but for our parents. Just because they’ve seen a lot doesn’t mean they have the tools to spot the traps.

Should there be a “Smartphone Bootcamp for Boomers”?

Oh how the turntables have turned: I’m the one warning my dad that the “woman” messaging him on WhatsApp may not even be a woman at all.

We talk about protecting kids from predators, but what about protecting them from permanence?

From misinformation dressed as truth?

From algorithms that remember more than we ever meant to share?

If you’ve never lived through your own real-life episode of Netflix’s You, be grateful.

It doesn’t take much to play detective on social media these days.

Everything we post, from every photo, tag, and story, becomes part of a treasure map that anyone can follow.

And now, with AI, those maps are multiplying.

Faces can be copied. Voices cloned.

Truth rewritten.

The digital self and world is slowly overtaking our analog one.

Our professional credibility, our relationships, our sense of identity are all built on data we can’t fully control.

The next generation will grow up in a world where identity can be edited, truth blurred, and privacy erased with a click.

Maybe the solution isn’t more tech —but more empathy, awareness, and honesty about what it means to be human in a digital world.

A few digital crumbs for thought:

• Label AI content. Transparency will keep us human.

• Take digital fasting days. No screens, no feeds, just outdoors, people and time.

• Ask the design questions. Why? What for? And for whom? Always be critical.

  
  

Because the more we stare at screens, the harder it becomes to separate what’s real from what’s manufactured. And that extends beyond the digital world — to media, politics, even personal drama.

When confusion and chaos dominate, control slips away.

Critical thinking is our anchor.

Cities are beginning to blur together too — the same Starbucks, the same retail stores, the same “modern cozy” hotels.

When everywhere feels familiar, the only place that still feels different is the wild.

So maybe the next time you need a reset, skip the city and find a forest, mountain, sea, and sky.

Let nature remind you: there’s still a world that doesn’t need Wi-Fi to be alive. 🌲