What is being a burner?

Being a "burner" can refer to participating in two very different cultural or social phenomena. In the context of the global Burning Man counterculture movement, being a burner means actively living out and embodying the festival's foundational ten core principles—such as radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, communal effort, and leaving no trace—both on the desert playa and in everyday life through art and community building. Alternatively, in digital or social media slang, being a burner can colloquially describe someone who habitually operates anonymous secondary social media accounts ("burner accounts") to browse the web, leave comments, or interact online without revealing their true personal identity or risking real-world social accountability.