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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Entertainment
Miles Herbert

Could you walk across the UK in a perfectly straight line? Inside YouTube’s strangest challenge

YouTubers Internet
A composite image featuring a smartphone showing straight line missioning inventor Tom Davies AKA GeoWizard
Straight line missions were ‘a feat of sheer folly and foolish machismo. But I was hooked regardless.’ Composite: Getty Images/GeoWizard

Spending too much time on YouTube can be a dangerous game for men my age. Algorithmic gyres can pull you rightwards – towards misogynistic extremes and away from the parts of the internet that build connections and foster consensus.

Thankfully the rabbit hole I fell down led me – in a perfectly straight line – towards a renewed sense of childlike adventure.

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