One day we logged on to the internet, and then we never logged out. On 15 August 1995, India officially logged on to the internet. If you’re a young Indian today, you come from a generation that used to dream of the endless possibilities that came with having the world at our fingertips, and now must cope with its realities. India’s Gen Z is inextricably tied to the internet – connected in more ways than one. To understand one, you must understand the other.

From the quiet potential of the early internet to Bollywood’s clumsy depictions of youth culture, from tote bags and trending aesthetics to anonymous hate and viral fame, from Ask.fm to AI, Never Logged Out by ‘extremely online’ Gen Z writer Ria Chopra tries to make sense of her generation and how they love, shop, and live on the internet.

In eight essays, each posing questions about selfhood, love, memory, privacy, anonymity, knowledge, fame, and ambition, Never Logged Out interrogates how the internet makes and breaks this generation. Fresh, funny, and startlingly insightful, Ria weaves together personal anecdotes, cultural commentary, and a sharp understanding of her generation and the world today into a first-of-its-kind book about the experience of growing up on, with, and because of the Indian internet.