Everybody's Cosplaying Online — Here's What's Real

Black Box Theory Podcast · Aug 3, 2026 · 3m · transcript

Social media turned everyone into a commentator, an expert, and a main character — all at once. In this clip we get into what that's actually doing to us.

Malcolm and Thomas break down the gap between perception and reality online: how people insert themselves into conversations they're not really part of, the "cosplaying" of identities and expertise we don't actually have, and what it does to your self-perception when the version of you online starts drifting from the real one. It's a funny conversation until you realize how much of it hits close to home.

⏱️ Timestamps:

00:00 — Cosplaying…