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Frame from Welcome to the Internet - Bo Burnham (from "Inside" -- ALBUM OUT NOW) Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Welcome to the Internet - Bo Burnham (from "Inside" -- ALBUM OUT NOW)

boburnham
Music
YouTube
4 HN users recommended this music video3 months2021–2026 score 4
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN commenters bring it up in threads about the internet, attention economy and smartphones, mostly as a favorite, with a few dissenters.

Bo Burnham's song from his special Inside, a satirical take on internet culture, attention and extremism.

“This is one of my favourite songs now” (HN, 2021)

2 strong recommendations · 2 recommendations · 5 citations · 1 critical · 2 jokes · Music

12 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@zubspace Jun 2021 Strongly recommends
on HN thread I Miss the Old Internet (2019)
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I just watched Inside [1], where Bo Burnham creates a wonderful, funny, sad and thought-provoking "Special" about our internet culture. Highly recommended. This is one of my favourite songs now: [2] It's a bit crazy when I think about how different our generations grow up and it makes me a bit sad that our children will have a completely different understanding of what the internet is. For me it was a place of wonder, freedom and self-expression. It's different today, but even I have problems explaining how it changed. But it definitely lost some if it's playfulness on the way. [1] [link] [2] [this video]
Song about internet culture from a funny, sad special
@Imustaskforhelp Feb 2026 Strongly recommends
on HN thread Hacker News.love – 22 projects Hacker News didn't love
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This reminded me of this song which actually shows the extremism of things in Internet. Welcome to the Internet - Bo Burnham: [this video] "Y'know wasn't always like this, not very long ago.. just before your time.. right before the towers fell.. circa 99 this was catalogues, travel blogs a chatroom or two, we set our nights and spent our nights waiting for you." "It was always the plan to put the world in your head." "Could I interest you in everything all of the time? Apathy is a tragedy and boredom is a crime. Everything and anything all of the time" Bo Burnham is amazing. Another (interesting?) song is jefferey bezos song [link] [Bo Burnham: Inside - Jeff Bezos] Recommend everyone to watch both music if you have the time and the first one for sure.
Song showing the extremism and attention economy of the internet
@sodality2 Jun 2021 Recommends
on HN thread iOS 15 Humane
Yep- it's totally different from his previous work but I absolutely loved it. Especially "Welcome to the Internet", because I can see firsthand what the song is about. Here's the video on Bo Burnham's own channel: [this video]
Bo Burnham song about internet culture
@Pyrodogg Aug 2021 Recommends
on HN thread Life before smartphones (2020)
"Apathy's a tragedy and boredom is a crime" - Welcome to the Internet by Bo Burnham[1] This new song from Bo's covid-lockdown inspired special "Inside" hits this right on head. The Internet, particularly when paired with mobile devices just tries to suck up so much attention, because that's exactly what we made it do. [1] [this video]
Song capturing how the internet and mobile devices suck up attention

Citations, criticism and jokes

@andrewxhill Jan 2022 Cites it
on HN thread Blue verification checkmark vs. hexagonal PFPs on Twitter
Why stop at 2000 though? The internet is still full of terrible things today, many of which are the most visible, and most of which are happening because, money. [this video] Terrible things on the internet don't make all things built on the internet guilty by association. Just like scammers and grifters finding opportunities in web3 don't make all NFTs bad ideas.
@aebtebeten Apr 2024 Cites it
on HN thread Personal Machines and Portable Worlds
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What makes a "world" for me is that there are a few basic rules from which all the gameplay can be derived; something where the basic axioms don't generate a rich theory is just "on rails" and at best a trivial world (something where the basic axioms generate anything and everything is even worse: a degenerate world). What makes a machine "personal" for me is that I need to engage by putting in some creative input in to get anything out; doodling on a sheet of paper is personal, but clicking on and desultorily reacting to some external stream is impersonal. In these senses, the "engagement" of the monetised web is neither personal nor a world: Which Power Ranger are you? Take this quirky quiz Obama sent the immigrants To vaccinate your kids [this video]
Lyrics used to illustrate the shallow monetised web
@normalaccess Dec 2024 Cites it
on HN thread Lead exposure in last century shrank IQ scores of half of Americans
100% correct. Nature does not blink and boop. Just like a drugs out devices hijack people's natural feedback mechanisms and produce an experience that's hyper-real. A two year-old with an iPad becomes unable to handle reality because it's dull by comparison. Relevant social commentary (timestamped): [this video]
Relevant social commentary on devices hijacking attention
@metalman Dec 2025 Pushes back
on HN thread Faith in the internet is fading among young Brits
thanks for the "recomendation" [this video] 168 million views edit: thinking about this video, it occurs to me that what is criminalised as subversion, may just be an instinctual reaction to non survial behavior on the part of our ruling class
@082349872349872 Oct 2024 Makes a joke
on HN thread Teens Want Less Sex in Movies and TV Shows, Study Finds
I'm with [link] on this point. In a world where teens are a click away from the referents to "Ma'am I do my own plumbing" and "Wh-what are you doing, steppe peoples?", I'd guess they don't see sex as negative so much as see gratuitous sex, sprinkled in by writers who can't even quote a single midget donkey porn trope properly, as negative. We pay about $60 for an evening for 2 at the movies; for that I'd appreciate having 90-120 minutes of, you know, story. Lagniappe: [this video]

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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