Elliott sat in his basement bedroom, illuminated only by the harsh blue glow of his HP Pavilion laptop. He was logged into Stickam, the chaotic grandfather of modern live-streaming. He was in a "town hall" room—basically a digital mosh pit where fifty people screamed at each other via text while five people on camera tried to look bored.

...l...

The year was 2009. The golden age of awkwardness. The internet was a lawless wasteland of pixelated webcams, bad lighting, and chat rooms where the only law was "don't show your face if you aren't wearing pants."