#11: The Online Boyfriend (Part I)

from Recurring Character · host Holly Friend

In this episode, we time-travel to the late-2010s, an era where the hottest thing a man could be was Very Online.From the philosophical YouTuber in Lena Dunham's Tiny Furniture (2010) to the self-styled literary fuckboy that is Sean Thor Conroe, in the first part of this two-part essay we ask the question: who is the Online Boyfriend, and why did we spend so long waiting for his texts? Digressions include: the Beta men of the Vice era, the allure of the online troll, and the sexual disinterest crisis that I am linking to laptop addiction with absolutely no evidence.Join me in this collective memorial of the Online Boyfriend: a character who may have died in 2019 but still lives on in the overactive imaginations of Millennial bloggers everywhere.Show Notes:Subscribe to my SubstackFake Accounts by Lauren Oyler (2021) Tiny Furniture (2010)Girls (2012-17)The I in Internet by Jia Tolentino Adjacent characters: The Hetero-optimist, The Losers, The FemcelWashington Post pollBini Yamin on SubwayTakesFuccboi by Sean Thor Conroe (2022)Has Fuccboi killed literature? via Unherd

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Aug 25, 2026

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#11: The Online Boyfriend (Part I)

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Hamza Yusuf Muslim Central Hamza Yusuf is a cofounder of Zaytuna College, located in Berkeley, California. He is an advisor to Stanford University’s Program in Islamic Studies and the Center for Islamic Studies at Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union. He also serves as vice-president for the Global Center for Guidance and Renewal, which was founded and is currently presided over by Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, one of the top jurists and masters of Islamic sciences in the world. Recently, Hamza Yusuf was ranked as “the Western world’s most influential Islamic scholar” by The 500 Most Influential Muslims. Hamza Yusuf has also authored several encyclopedia articles and research papers. His published books include The Burda (2003), Purification of the Heart (2004), The Content of Character (2004), The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi (2007), Agenda to Change our Condition (2007), Walk on Water (2010), and The Prayer of the Oppressed (2010).Shaykh Hamza was born in Washington State and raised in Northern California. In 1977 The Saint Entertainment Radio The Saint was a radio adventure program in the United States that featured a character ("a swashbuckling, devil-may-care Robin Hood type who, in his attempt to help people, remained just one step ahead of the police and crooks—both of whom he combatted") created by author Leslie Charteris. As the program's introduction said, The Saint (the alias of Simon Templar), was "known to millions from books, magazines, and motion pictures." Several versions of the program appeared on different networks.

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