What Adam Aleksic has said about Unalive
2 quotes · 1 episode · Aug 21, 2026
Adam Aleksic, Linguist and TikTok creator featured in part two of the series, has been quoted on Unalive 2 times in 1 episode of TED Radio Hour, most recently on August 21, 2026. Each quote below is verbatim and links to the moment it was said.
In their words
Aleksic says that the word "kill" is suppressed on TikTok, which led users to adopt alternatives like "unalive."
“you can't say the word kill on TikTok. I mean, I guess you can, but it's suppressed”
TED Radio Hour: How the creator economy is making you talk like the internet (Aug 21, 2026) · Listen from 6:52
Aleksic traces "unalive" to a 2013 Ultimate Spider-Man meme that later spread through Roblox and the TikTok mental health community.
“the word unalive started in 2013 with an ultimate Spider-Man meme that then turned into a Roblox meme in the late 2010s”
TED Radio Hour: How the creator economy is making you talk like the internet (Aug 21, 2026) · Listen from 7:32
Episodes
How the creator economy is making you talk like the internetTED Radio Hour · Aug 21, 2026 · 50 min
Manoush Zomorodi talks with linguist and creator Adam Aleksic about how social media algorithms shape slang, influencer speech, identity and politics.
Adam Aleksic on other topics
- Social media algorithms · 5 quotes
- Internet slang · 3 quotes
- Creator economy · 2 quotes
- Manosphere · 1 quote
- Media theory · 1 quote
- Surveillance capitalism · 1 quote
- Cottagecore and aesthetic subcultures · 1 quote
- Influencer accents · 1 quote