or Chaelon Simpson ’26, his Instagram Close Friends stories precede him.

“It’s literally like a celebrity who will post things, and people are like, ‘Yo, did you see this?’” says Ryan F. Irving ’27, one of Chaelon’s close friends in person as well as on Instagram.

When I contacted Chaelon to inform him of his nomination for Most Chronically Online, he posted a screenshot of my email almost instantaneously to his Close Friends story with the caption “my close friends story is now newsworthy.”

Chaelon is chronically online in its traditional meaning: he is extremely well-versed in popular culture, and has an average daily screen time of nine hours and 46 minutes. But his digital presence is known for much more than his consumption of Real Housewives clips. It’s the way he uses the internet to comment on the in-person world and foster real-life connections that earns him the title.

Chaelon claims his friends hardly notice how often he uses his phone. He says has mastered the art of posting on his story mid-conversation — ensuring his Instagram is always up to date on his latest random thought or relatable grievance. He estimates that he posts once or twice a week to his general story and at least six times a day, if not more than a dozen times, to his Close Friends. Ryan says that if he doesn’t see a new post from Chaelon within a 12-hour period, he starts to get worried.

On his Close Friends story, Chaelon shares shower thoughts, screenshots of memorable group chat moments, and zany adventures such as going to a psychic. From reposting his friends’ photo dumps — even when Chaelon himself doesn’t make an appearance — to his typical format of simple text on a black background, he finds plenty of material to keep his Instagram active.

“Literally every day he’ll post things that elicit a physical reaction, like your jaw has dropped when you read them,” Ryan says.

Many of Chaelon’s posts are motivated by a desire to understand why people are the way they are, a fascination that has also led him to concentrate in sociology. In a way, he sees his Close Friends story as a social experiment — a way of documenting real-time social observations both from his daily life and from the way others engage with his posts. “When this modern era of humans wipes ourselves out by our own incompetence, by ignoring things like climate change or something, I think researchers are going to find my Close Friends story,” Chaelon says. “It’s going to be the last text that remains, and honestly, I think it’s the most important one.”

But Chaelon’s internet presence hasn’t always been this way. Though he was active on Snapchat in high school, and even had a few tweets go viral, his social media persona truly blossomed when he arrived at Harvard. During a difficult adjustment period to campus, Chaelon found that his Close Friends list could foster connections and spread joy in addition to personal documentation.

Chaelon says he was shy before COVID, but has deliberately become more of an extrovert. Though he found that Harvard wasn’t exactly what he expected, he was keenly aware of how unique the opportunity was, and how special the people are. “Everyone has lived such different, crazy, insane lives on campus. Why not use the privilege these four years give you to get to know everyone?”

Chaelon remembers being scared about whether he’d connect with people back in freshman year, but making friends quickly turned out to be a natural strength. “I think he is maybe one of the most social people I’ve ever met,” says Jahrel K. Noble ’26, one of Chaelon’s blockmates.

“He’s one of those people that, after a very short amount of time knowing him, you already feel like you know him very well,” Ryan says.

Adding people to a regularly active Close Friends story makes it easier to get to know new people quickly, Chaelon discovered. “People might know me, even though I might not know them yet. That gives people groundwork to work off of, and then we’re able to become friends.”

In seeking friendship, Chaelon soon realized that “everyone at this school wants to make connections with other people,” which has kept him motivated to bring people together through his online humor. With 455 people currently added to this story, Chaelon says he wants “everyone to be in on the joke.”

“It feels so natural for him,” Jahrel says. “He is somehow involved in quite nearly every social circle.”

Meeting so many Harvard students through these various social spaces, Chaelon says he recognized that “there’s a lot of people here that are open and honest and funny and really down-to-earth, genuine people” — a realization that also encouraged him to share more details about his life on Instagram.

Whether it’s lighthearted commentary about how expensive everything is, wedding guest list worries, or even jokes about being late to get a senior photo, Chaelon sees himself as posting “things that Harvard students think about, and they just don’t say.”

His lighthearted approach to life, though well documented online, is no social media performance. “His posts really do bring joy to the people who read it, and that’s reflective of the way he lives his life outside of the digital world,” Ryan says.

In addition to fostering community through his Close Friends list, Chaelon has applied his social energy to deep involvement in a number of extracurriculars. “My hands have kind of been everywhere on campus, but it’s really fun — I don’t like to not be busy,” Chaelon says.

His comedic bent shines through in his responsibilities for each of these organizations, but his contributions go far beyond his social presence. “Just painting Chae as just the comic relief is not entirely accurate. If someone were to just look at his social media profile, they may not realize the layers to him,” Jahrel says.

“He takes his job at the Pudding super seriously,” says Hannah R. Frazer ’25, who worked with Chaelon on the Hasty Pudding business staff. She recalls that Chaelon did “such a great job” as tour manager, handling stressful days while making sure everyone travelling was cared for. “He’s got a real serious side to him as well. He’s super responsible,” she says.

Chaelon jokes that if a future employer ever sees his digital footprint, it will give him a “leg up” against AI because it’s evidence that he can be a personality hire. But perhaps this offhand remark encapsulates the value of his authenticity — both on and offline. He transcends the typical connotations of the chronically online descriptor, with his well-established social media presence acting not as a barrier for real-life connection but a conduit for deeper Harvard ties.

“In comparison to a lot of other Instagram stories, which feel very curated and feel very like you’re trying to portray a certain image, I think Chae posts whatever is on his mind or whatever he wants to — which I think makes it more memorable because it feels more more raw,” Jahrel says.

His rawness and authenticity have attracted followers and friends, but most of all, they’ve allowed Chaelon to find solid footing on campus. “I don’t have anything about myself to hide,” he says.

— Associate Magazine Editor Kate J. Kaufman can be reached at [email protected].