Waleed Aly slams social media on The Matty Johns Podcast

The Project host Waleed Aly didn’t hold back in a new interview when asked about his longtime refusal to join any social media platforms.

Longtime Project co-host Waleed Aly is one of the few Australian celebs not to maintain any public social media presence whatsoever – and in an explosive new interview, Aly blasts social media as “one of the worst things humans have invented”.

Aly’s lack of any Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or TikTok presence certainly hasn’t harmed his career – in 2016 he won the coveted Gold Logie, often an award given after TV personalities have rallied their fanbases via their social media accounts.

You won’t find Waleed Aly on social media …

… but it hasn’t harmed his career prospects. Picture: Getty

Speaking on ‘Good Chat’, the new Monday episode fromThe Matty Johns Podcast, the 44-year-old didn’t hold back when asked his opinions on social media, dubbing himself a “fundamentalist” on the issue.

“I think it’s a disaster. I’ve never been on it, and I have no interest in being on it. And I think it’s one of the worst things humans have invented in the last 50 years,” Aly said.

“I have major problems with it.”

Namely, Aly argued that while social media does facilitate free speech, “what it doesn’t facilitate is any meaningful speech”.

Listen to The Matty Johns Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, or press play here:

“Because meaningful speech is where minds and ideas meet and contest,” he continued. “But [social media] turns all of that sort of interaction into performance. And when you’re performing, you’re in a very different mode than when you’re discussing.”

Aly said he preferred face-to-face conversations to getting into Twitter spats, where the “scoreboard element” of likes and retweets sees people on social media “put on a show”.

“In my experience, all the best conversations – especially with people you disagree with – happen when you are seeing them as a person in front of you. Even on the phone is better, because there’s a lot more human accountability.”

Matty Johns and Waleed Aly sit down for an in-depth chat.

Continuing his anti social media spray, Aly said that people seeking to debate on the platforms are “fully armed with opinions, but they’re not usually very well armed with wisdom”.

“And they’re not usually armed with a very subtle understanding of the people that they’re disagreeing with or talking about, because they’re not actually disagreeing with them to engage. They’re disagreeing with them to perform that disagreement for a whole lot of other people who want to see that.”

You can listen to Aly’s full interview on The Matty Johns Podcast, out today.