In Episode 5 of Allergic Reaction, Lisa Lomax time-travels to the early days of social media—when people gathered in real life, built grassroots communities and shared creativity without feeding the algorithm. We meet Judy at an underground fixed-gear (no breaks!) bike race in Long Beach, who tips us off to a photobomb meet-up in Echo Park. It's Easter Sunday, 2016, and people have congregated to connect, create and celebrate their shared love of photography--not for likes, but for each other. Then, we fast-forward to the present. Lisa visits Griffith Observatory on a Monday—it's closed, but tourists from around the world still arrive to capture the exact same photo. The algorithm rewards repetition, and belonging now means capturing photos of what we've already seen, exalting one specific shot to icon status. This episode explores: How social media fame once grew from subcultures and spontaneity Why we travel the world to capture the same photos as everyone else How the promise of connection became tethered to the algorithm's demands