We Had to Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets
Hanna Bervoets tries to flesh out the world which surrounds content moderation, but the core questions she proposes feel somewhat out-of-date
We Had To Remove This Post follows a social media content moderator, Kayleigh, who is forbidden from mentioning the platform; indeed, it is never given to the reader (although a quick glance at the Selected Sources is a good indicator of who it could be based on). The story encounters all sorts of characters who Kayleigh works with, including her new girlfriend and rag-tag bunch of colleague-friends. Together, they spend their days watching the worst of humanity on their screens, only making it through with the promise of a drink at the end.
The thing about this novella, though, is that it feels somewhat out-of-date. If published a few years ago, it would have more impact, provoke more thought. Back then, we, as a society, were shocked by the idea of being desensitised. This new idea of our brains being numbed by the internet was fresh and horrifying, but we struggled through it (by consuming more content). As it stands, in 2022, we are all too aware that our brains are desensitised, and that is no longer a surprise. The internet has changed how we think, the internet’s normal has become our normal.
It's sad that this novella can be picked up, read, and shrugged off as old news. That’s not to say that the writing isn’t good, with clean sentences and well-developed characters. Bervoets does try to flesh out the world which surrounds content moderation, but the core questions she proposes (who, or what, determines our worldview, what is normal?) are questions we have been asking throughout the 2010s and are, perhaps, no longer enough to fuel a novella.
