Sara Reinis
@sarareinis.bsky.social
researching internet culture, algorithms, self-help, spirituality, and assorted rabbit holes that strike my fancy | currently: PhD student at Penn Annenberg
Pinned
Sara Reinis
@sarareinis.bsky.social
· Jan 29
“GOD IS MY SPONSORED AD!! MY ALGORITHM!”: The spiritual algorithmic imaginary and Christian TikTok - Sara Reinis, Corrina Laughlin, 2025
This article employs Critical Technocultural Discourse Analysis (CTDA) to analyze the affective public surrounding the hashtag #christiantiktok. We find that “C...
journals.sagepub.com
Excited to share my (first!) academic publication exploring Christian TikTok and attempts to spiritualize the unpredictability of algorithmic recommendation. Thank you to @corrinalaughlin.bsky.social for an amazing collaborative process. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Reposted by Sara Reinis
“Today, as Silicon Valley leaders turn to the right, and particularly when they migrate to Texas, many are embracing the simultaneous celebration of entrepreneurship and Christian discipleship.”
The Texan Ideology | Fred Turner
The Texan Ideology reflects a century-old fusion of the oil industry and millenarian Christianity.
thebaffler.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:15 AM
“Today, as Silicon Valley leaders turn to the right, and particularly when they migrate to Texas, many are embracing the simultaneous celebration of entrepreneurship and Christian discipleship.”
Reposted by Sara Reinis
Taking a brief break from sporadically posting photos of my pitbull to shout this into the void:
I’ve spent the last seven months thinking about the Antichrist, and now those thoughts are published over at @wired.com.
www.wired.com/story/the-re...
I’ve spent the last seven months thinking about the Antichrist, and now those thoughts are published over at @wired.com.
www.wired.com/story/the-re...
The Real Stakes, and Real Story, of Peter Thiel’s Antichrist Obsession
Thirty years ago, a peace-loving Austrian theologian spoke to Peter Thiel about the apocalyptic theories of Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt. They’ve been a road map for the billionaire ever since.
www.wired.com
September 30, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Taking a brief break from sporadically posting photos of my pitbull to shout this into the void:
I’ve spent the last seven months thinking about the Antichrist, and now those thoughts are published over at @wired.com.
www.wired.com/story/the-re...
I’ve spent the last seven months thinking about the Antichrist, and now those thoughts are published over at @wired.com.
www.wired.com/story/the-re...
There’s a frenzy (from believers and nonbelievers) about the Rapture happening today. The content reveals a lot about our attention economy with its focus on self-help, revealing secret knowledge, and the difficulty parsing through earnest vs ironic engagement. open.substack.com/pub/holyscro...
Are you Rapture ready?
The attention economy goes apocalyptic
open.substack.com
September 23, 2025 at 9:05 PM
There’s a frenzy (from believers and nonbelievers) about the Rapture happening today. The content reveals a lot about our attention economy with its focus on self-help, revealing secret knowledge, and the difficulty parsing through earnest vs ironic engagement. open.substack.com/pub/holyscro...
Reposted by Sara Reinis
Are you seeing this post? It might be because of divine intervention. A study by @sarareinis.bsky.social and @corrinalaughlin.bsky.social shows the many ways the #ChristianTikTok community conceptualizes and makes use of the TikTok algorithm:
How #ChristianTikTok Users Understand and Utilize the Platform’s Algorithm
www.asc.upenn.edu
September 23, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Are you seeing this post? It might be because of divine intervention. A study by @sarareinis.bsky.social and @corrinalaughlin.bsky.social shows the many ways the #ChristianTikTok community conceptualizes and makes use of the TikTok algorithm:
Reposted by Sara Reinis
Despite the veneer of placid smiles and pastoral bliss, tradwives operate from a place of rage—forming a distorted “mirror world” response to many issues traditionally taken up by feminists. This and more in my latest publication with Sarah Banet-Weiser: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
September 17, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Despite the veneer of placid smiles and pastoral bliss, tradwives operate from a place of rage—forming a distorted “mirror world” response to many issues traditionally taken up by feminists. This and more in my latest publication with Sarah Banet-Weiser: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Sara Reinis
this exists it is called thinking
September 20, 2025 at 12:15 PM
this exists it is called thinking
Despite the veneer of placid smiles and pastoral bliss, tradwives operate from a place of rage—forming a distorted “mirror world” response to many issues traditionally taken up by feminists. This and more in my latest publication with Sarah Banet-Weiser: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
September 17, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Despite the veneer of placid smiles and pastoral bliss, tradwives operate from a place of rage—forming a distorted “mirror world” response to many issues traditionally taken up by feminists. This and more in my latest publication with Sarah Banet-Weiser: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Sara Reinis
Some thoughts on the nature of “reality” in the gen AI age and a brief look into the booming genre of fake Christian worship music videos.
open.substack.com/pub/holyscro...
open.substack.com/pub/holyscro...
August 18, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Some thoughts on the nature of “reality” in the gen AI age and a brief look into the booming genre of fake Christian worship music videos.
open.substack.com/pub/holyscro...
open.substack.com/pub/holyscro...
Reposted by Sara Reinis
Life is a continuous series of burdensome choices. True freedom comes when you give yourself over to the algorithm.
When I let ChatGPT manage my social life for a week, AI texted my friends and picked my outfits. It was strange but helpful.
When I first turned to ChatGPT to run my social life, I felt weird. But AI made me a better texter and I became someone who actually planned hangouts.
www.businessinsider.com
August 23, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Life is a continuous series of burdensome choices. True freedom comes when you give yourself over to the algorithm.
Some thoughts on the nature of “reality” in the gen AI age and a brief look into the booming genre of fake Christian worship music videos.
open.substack.com/pub/holyscro...
open.substack.com/pub/holyscro...
August 18, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Some thoughts on the nature of “reality” in the gen AI age and a brief look into the booming genre of fake Christian worship music videos.
open.substack.com/pub/holyscro...
open.substack.com/pub/holyscro...
Reposted by Sara Reinis
"AI is not that novel. It is not that potentially revolutionary. It is in a long continuum of technologies that promise to transform education, starting with the TV, the typewriter, VCRs, tablets [and] Chromebooks."
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/o...
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/o...
Opinion | A.I. Is Fueling a ‘Poverty of Imagination.’ Here’s How We Can Fix It.
www.nytimes.com
August 12, 2025 at 11:49 AM
"AI is not that novel. It is not that potentially revolutionary. It is in a long continuum of technologies that promise to transform education, starting with the TV, the typewriter, VCRs, tablets [and] Chromebooks."
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/o...
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/o...
Reposted by Sara Reinis
New: A few weeks ago, when my father-in-law died, the funeral home asked if we wanted to use AI to write his obituary. So I dug into it and found that it's the biggest new trend in "death care." Tens of thousands of AI obits have been made already. Often the families don't even know wapo.st/4okuxIg
The rise of AI tools that write about you when you die
Families and funeral directors are using AI obituary generators to more efficiently memorialize the dead. What happens when they get it wrong?
wapo.st
August 3, 2025 at 11:47 AM
New: A few weeks ago, when my father-in-law died, the funeral home asked if we wanted to use AI to write his obituary. So I dug into it and found that it's the biggest new trend in "death care." Tens of thousands of AI obits have been made already. Often the families don't even know wapo.st/4okuxIg
Reposted by Sara Reinis
Zuckerberg farted out some nonsense today, and since most media outlets refuse to report critically any time a tech CEO offers them some a pseudoserious press release, I've decided to do it for them.
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/7/30/how-to-read-an-ai-press-release
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/7/30/how-to-read-an-ai-press-release
How to Read an "AI" Press Release — Sonja Drimmer
Every so often someone like Mark Zuckerberg or Sam Altman will dribble out some unadorned text in Times New Roman font, announcing with stentorian certitude the advent of a new world that their latest...
sonjadrimmer.com
July 30, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Zuckerberg farted out some nonsense today, and since most media outlets refuse to report critically any time a tech CEO offers them some a pseudoserious press release, I've decided to do it for them.
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/7/30/how-to-read-an-ai-press-release
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/7/30/how-to-read-an-ai-press-release
Users on TikTok are asking ChatGPT what their "curse" is. What does it mean for us to want surveillance? To crave it? To feel comforted by being intimately known by software?
open.substack.com/pub/holyscro...
open.substack.com/pub/holyscro...
ChatGPT, What is My Curse?
What does it mean to feel seen by a machine?
open.substack.com
July 22, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Users on TikTok are asking ChatGPT what their "curse" is. What does it mean for us to want surveillance? To crave it? To feel comforted by being intimately known by software?
open.substack.com/pub/holyscro...
open.substack.com/pub/holyscro...
My latest academic publication is out! After watching 3,000+ manifestation videos on TikTok, I dive into the ways platform features are shaping modern spirituality.
🔮🙏🏻 share this post to claim your blessing ✨🪽
Open access here: ijoc.org/index.php/ij...
🔮🙏🏻 share this post to claim your blessing ✨🪽
Open access here: ijoc.org/index.php/ij...
April 25, 2025 at 4:41 PM
My latest academic publication is out! After watching 3,000+ manifestation videos on TikTok, I dive into the ways platform features are shaping modern spirituality.
🔮🙏🏻 share this post to claim your blessing ✨🪽
Open access here: ijoc.org/index.php/ij...
🔮🙏🏻 share this post to claim your blessing ✨🪽
Open access here: ijoc.org/index.php/ij...
Reposted by Sara Reinis
Dozens more pregnant and postpartum women have died in Texas hospitals since the state banned abortion, our analysis shows.
As the maternal mortality rate dropped nationally, it rose in Texas by 33%.
As the maternal mortality rate dropped nationally, it rose in Texas by 33%.
Texas Banned Abortion. Then Sepsis Rates Soared.
ProPublica’s first-of-its-kind analysis is the most detailed look yet into a rise in life-threatening complications for women experiencing pregnancy loss under Texas’ abortion ban.
propub.li
March 24, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Dozens more pregnant and postpartum women have died in Texas hospitals since the state banned abortion, our analysis shows.
As the maternal mortality rate dropped nationally, it rose in Texas by 33%.
As the maternal mortality rate dropped nationally, it rose in Texas by 33%.
Reposted by Sara Reinis
My latest: Generative AI is enabling a brute force attack against the algorithms that control reality. AI slop is taking over every algorithmically controlled social media platform and search platform, and the tech platforms are helping:
www.404media.co/ai-slop-is-a...
www.404media.co/ai-slop-is-a...
AI Slop Is a Brute Force Attack on the Algorithms That Control Reality
Generative AI spammers are brute forcing the internet, and it is working.
www.404media.co
March 17, 2025 at 3:22 PM
My latest: Generative AI is enabling a brute force attack against the algorithms that control reality. AI slop is taking over every algorithmically controlled social media platform and search platform, and the tech platforms are helping:
www.404media.co/ai-slop-is-a...
www.404media.co/ai-slop-is-a...
Reposted by Sara Reinis
the creator presidency can promise only two things for certain: engagement and pain
This is a great strategy to create content and the possibly worst strategy to run the largest economy of the world.
March 6, 2025 at 7:12 PM
the creator presidency can promise only two things for certain: engagement and pain
Reposted by Sara Reinis
Maya Man's digital piece on "day in the life" vlogs at @whitney.org prompted me to think about the internet content that renders the ordinary uncanny. (also, the AI slop historic pov videos and the humans-imitating-AI-imitating-humans videos that made me spiral 😵💫)
defector.com/taking-the-l...
defector.com/taking-the-l...
Taking The Life Out Of "Day In The Life" | Defector
11:59 a.m. The tiny clock at the bottom of the screen counts down to the top of the hour, and like a bizarre bell chime from a digital clocktower, large pink text overtakes the Whitney Museum’s websit...
defector.com
March 3, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Maya Man's digital piece on "day in the life" vlogs at @whitney.org prompted me to think about the internet content that renders the ordinary uncanny. (also, the AI slop historic pov videos and the humans-imitating-AI-imitating-humans videos that made me spiral 😵💫)
defector.com/taking-the-l...
defector.com/taking-the-l...
Reposted by Sara Reinis
Are you seeing this post? It might be because of divine intervention. A new study by @sarareinis.bsky.social and @corrinalaughlin.bsky.social shows the many ways the #ChristianTikTok community conceptualizes and makes use of the TikTok algorithm:
How #ChristianTikTok Users Understand and Utilize the Platform’s Algorithm
www.asc.upenn.edu
February 27, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Are you seeing this post? It might be because of divine intervention. A new study by @sarareinis.bsky.social and @corrinalaughlin.bsky.social shows the many ways the #ChristianTikTok community conceptualizes and makes use of the TikTok algorithm:
Wrote some thoughts about memes of data nihilism and Meta takeover conspiracies in the wake of the temporary (but still vaguely looming) ban of TikTok.
What happened to TikTok? And how did users adapt? Find out in this short & insightful piece by steering committee member @sarareinis.bsky.social bit.ly/41jCbch @bzelizer.bsky.social @asc.upenn.edu
February 18, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Wrote some thoughts about memes of data nihilism and Meta takeover conspiracies in the wake of the temporary (but still vaguely looming) ban of TikTok.
Despite people's impressions of the tech world and religion being quite separate spheres, this has been brewing for a long time. We will only see more of this as tech leaders seek some sort of cosmic moral framework to justify their actions and deflect criticism. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/b...
Silicon Valley is Embracing Christianity (With the Help of Peter Thiel)
When tech luminaries talk about their Christian faith, people listen.
www.nytimes.com
February 12, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Despite people's impressions of the tech world and religion being quite separate spheres, this has been brewing for a long time. We will only see more of this as tech leaders seek some sort of cosmic moral framework to justify their actions and deflect criticism. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/b...
Reposted by Sara Reinis
New article on spirituality & social media by Steering Committee member @sarareinis.bsky.social and co-author @corrinalaughlin.bsky.social “GOD IS MY SPONSORED AD!! MY ALGORITHM!” Read it here: bit.ly/4hPLUMY @asc.upenn.edu @bzelizer.bsky.social
February 11, 2025 at 8:25 PM
New article on spirituality & social media by Steering Committee member @sarareinis.bsky.social and co-author @corrinalaughlin.bsky.social “GOD IS MY SPONSORED AD!! MY ALGORITHM!” Read it here: bit.ly/4hPLUMY @asc.upenn.edu @bzelizer.bsky.social
Reposted by Sara Reinis
In other words, the nature of global "democracy" is changing again. The same way the citizen was replaced by the consumer, the consumer is now being replaced by the creator. Politics shifted from something you participated in to something you consumed. It's now something you parasocially relate to.
February 5, 2025 at 3:51 PM
In other words, the nature of global "democracy" is changing again. The same way the citizen was replaced by the consumer, the consumer is now being replaced by the creator. Politics shifted from something you participated in to something you consumed. It's now something you parasocially relate to.
Reposted by Sara Reinis
If I just read one million more posts tonight, I will have complete control over what comes next
November 9, 2024 at 1:35 AM
If I just read one million more posts tonight, I will have complete control over what comes next