Taylor Lorenz Biography: Age, Relationship, Height, Education, Personal Life, Journalist Career and Online Book Publication 2024

Taylor Lorenz, an American journalist, was born on October 21, around the years 1984-1987.

She currently serves as a columnist for The Washington Post.

Prior to this role, she held positions as a technology reporter for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, and Business Insider, as well as a social media editor for the Daily Mail. Lorenz is widely recognized for her coverage of Internet culture.

Early Life and Education

Lorenz hails from the bustling city of New York City and spent her formative years in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, where she pursued her education at the esteemed Greenwich High School.

She commenced her college journey at the University of Colorado Boulder before making a transition to Hobart and William Smith College, where she successfully obtained a degree in political science.

Lorenz attributes her fascination with Internet culture to her exposure to the popular social media platform, Tumblr.

Career

Lorenz held the position of social media editor at the Daily Mail from 2011 to 2014, eventually rising to become the head of social media.

Following a brief period of writing for The Daily Dot in 2014, she transitioned to a role as a technology reporter for Business Insider from 2014 to 2017.

In 2017, she contributed briefly to The Hill’s blog section and unfortunately experienced an assault by a counter-protester while covering the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

From 2017 to 2018, she worked as a technology reporter for The Daily Beast. In 2019, she served as a visiting fellow at Harvard University’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism.

Subsequently, from 2019 to 2022, she worked as a technology reporter for The New York Times.

Lorenz’s reporting, as highlighted by The Caret, often focuses on topics such as Silicon Valley venture capitalists, marketers, and the impact of the internet on human expression and communication.

Fortune recognized her accomplishments by including her in their “40 Under 40” list in 2020, praising her as an unparalleled authority whose name has become synonymous with online youth culture during her tenure at The Daily Beast and The Atlantic.

Additionally, Adweek acknowledged her influence in the media, marketing, and tech industries by featuring her on their list of “Young Influentials Who Are Shaping Media, Marketing and Tech”, noting her ability to provide context to the internet as it exists in our daily lives.

Reason magazine credited her with popularizing the phrase “OK boomer” in an article that declared a shift in generational relations.

According to TheWrap, Lorenz has faced a disproportionate amount of online criticism, particularly from right-wing media outlets, since her time at The New York Times.

In March 2022, Lorenz joined The Washington Post as a columnist after leaving the Times.

Her book, titled “Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Power and Influence on the Internet,” was published by Simon & Schuster in October 2023.

During April 2022, Lorenz wrote an article for the Post that revealed the identity of Chaya Raichik as the owner of the right-wing Twitter account known as Libs of TikTok. The information was obtained from early versions of the account.

Initially, the online version of the article included a link to Raichik’s real-estate license.

As a result of the article, Lorenz faced accusations of doxxing and hypocrisy due to her previous stance against online harassment.

Raichik claimed that Lorenz had doxxed her and violated her right to free speech.

The Times of London reported that Lorenz’s supporters highlighted the fact that Raichik’s followers were also engaged in doxing, particularly targeting teachers by falsely accusing them of being paedophiles.

In a tweet, Lorenz mentioned that her “whole family was doxed again this morning… trolls have now moved on to doxing and stalking any random friends I’ve tagged on Instagram”.

Lorenz later conducted an interview with Raichik for an article about Libs of TikTok in February 2024.

In June 2022, an article written by Lorenz was published by the Post, discussing the coverage of the Depp v. Heard trial by YouTube personalities.

However, the article contained inaccuracies, stating that two YouTubers mentioned in the article had been contacted for comment, which was not the case.

The Post made editorial corrections and acknowledged that stealth editing had violated their policy.

Lorenz explained in a tweet that the errors were a result of miscommunication with her editor, although the tweet was reportedly discussed and agreed upon by Lorenz and multiple editors.

As a consequence, Lorenz was reportedly transferred from the features staff to the technology team, and the Post’s senior managing editor, Cameron Barr, was assigned to review her articles before publication.

Lorenz clarified on Twitter that she had not been demoted and that her job remained unchanged.

Lorenz also criticized the news coverage of the errors by CNN and others, accusing them of acting in “bad faith” and engaging in an “irresponsible and dangerous” campaign to amplify outrage, driven by right-wing media and radicalized influencers.

She claimed that this campaign had led to a vicious harassment and smear campaign against her.

In December 2022, Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, temporarily suspended Lorenz’s Twitter account.

This suspension followed a series of suspensions of journalists under Musk’s ownership of the platform.

Lorenz stated that she was suspended after requesting a comment from Musk for a story.

Musk, on the other hand, tweeted that the suspension was a result of “prior doxxing action.”

Personal Life

Lorenz revealed her engagement to Christopher Mims, a technology columnist at The Wall Street Journal, in January of 2015.

She publicly disclosed her vegan lifestyle in 2022. Lorenz has spoken about suffering from “severe PTSD” due to online harassment, as well as being immunocompromised.

Selected publications

Notes