Kuan notes that the genuine impact of social movements comes from their real presence on the streets, because that is the only way to effectively challenge the status quo. But the "surrogate participation" provided by the Internet may cause people who might otherwise go to the site of a protest in person to stay home and be mere onlookers, thereby in fact weakening the action's possibilities for striking a blow against the system.
他指出，社運的撞擊力，應該來自活生生硝煙四起的街頭，才能對既存體制形成足夠的挑戰，但網路提供的「替代性參與」情境，讓許多本來有意親至現場聲援的潛在行動者，退卻成為旁觀者的角色，反而弱化了衝撞體制的能量。