Just venting about modern Internet
Saturday, 1 March 2025 05:12![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
michifuguSo I just read The Ringer article, "The Day the Good Internet Died" and man, I completely agree, it perfectly captures my feelings about the modern internet climate and why I’m not vibing with it. Maybe it’s because I’m oldies and grew up during the Friendster and MySpace era, making Blogspot sites, writing whatever I wanted because it was the coolest thing ever at the time, and tweaking HTML to make my profile as cute and aesthetic as possible.
Like, the old internet sure had its flaws, but I’d take it any day over the modern internet. At least back then, I had more control over what I wanted to see. Meanwhile, today’s internet just… sucks. Ever since content can became commodified and monetized, people have been churning out controversial opinions and fueling discourse all the time for engagement and clout. It’s so depressing. People chase that dopamine rush from high numbers of retweets, likes, and shares, so they keep drumming up more "provocative" or "controversial" opinions, and the algorithm prioritizes that kind of content because it gets the most engagement.
I also realized that ever since I started spending less time on Twitter (aside from retweeting fanart), I feel much better.
Though I’m still active on social media like Twitter, Tumblr, and Bluesky for fanart and fandom-related content, I find those platforms (especially Twitter) horrible in general. At least Bluesky seems to be learning from Twitter’s (X) mistakes, the ability to disable quote tweets and replies is a step in the right direction. Plus, there’s no forced algorithm, and it offers more customization to control your timeline.
Speaking of algorithms, I just watched Technology Connections’ video, "Algorithms Are Breaking How We Think," and wow, I hate how right it is. I think I’m also guilty of this without realizing it, I’ve become a slave to the algorithm (I love watching youtube shorts and doom-scrolling on Twitter). I admit it’s affected my comprehension and thinking, I feel like my brain has regressed because I struggle to sit through long videos, and even reading long articles can feel exhausting. It really made me realize how much algorithms impact the way we think & cognitive abilities. It makes me want to discipline myself by reading actual books and articles and watching long-form media to fix my attention span.
But it’s also depressing because this is going to be the internet for younger generations, especially with the rise of AI-generated spam content, which makes the Dead Internet Theory feel more real. It’s sad because young people deserve better. Again, the old internet had its flaws, but at least it forced us to search manually if we wanted to find things, it encouraged us to learn about websites, and—most importantly—we had more control over what we saw. Sure, the old internet was like the wild west, where you could stumble across disturbing content due to a lack of curation, but at least you could dodge it as long you know where to avoid that stuff & it won't appear on you again. Meanwhile, on modern social media, if you accidentally see a rage-bait post, the algorithm 'assumes' you 'like' that content and starts feeding you more of it just because you viewed or clicked on it.
It’s honestly crazy how centralized the internet has become. If you think about it, most of the internet is now controlled by a few big corporate social media platforms. I feel lucky that I experienced the old internet, which helps me navigate and resist the corporatization of online spaces, but younger generations don’t have that experience. To them, this is just how the internet is. They’ve grown up with it and see it as "normal." The fact that many younger people don’t know how to torrent or pirate, or even about blogging, just makes me realize how massive the tech-savviness gap is between Gen Z/Gen Alpha and Millennials/Gen X.
Honestly, all of this just makes me even more in favor of a decentralized internet. I’m so grateful that Dreamwidth exists, and I’m considering supporting it by paying for a premium account. I also appreciate platforms like Neocities and Bearblog, as well as other independent or volunteer-run websites that provide a space for people who want a more personalized, non-corporate internet experience.
I also want to learn how to build my own website and maybe even run my own server, it seems like an important and worthwhile investment for the future.
Anyway, once again Capitalism ruined Tech & Internet now everything has to be commodified and personalized for fucking ads.
Like, the old internet sure had its flaws, but I’d take it any day over the modern internet. At least back then, I had more control over what I wanted to see. Meanwhile, today’s internet just… sucks. Ever since content can became commodified and monetized, people have been churning out controversial opinions and fueling discourse all the time for engagement and clout. It’s so depressing. People chase that dopamine rush from high numbers of retweets, likes, and shares, so they keep drumming up more "provocative" or "controversial" opinions, and the algorithm prioritizes that kind of content because it gets the most engagement.
I also realized that ever since I started spending less time on Twitter (aside from retweeting fanart), I feel much better.
Though I’m still active on social media like Twitter, Tumblr, and Bluesky for fanart and fandom-related content, I find those platforms (especially Twitter) horrible in general. At least Bluesky seems to be learning from Twitter’s (X) mistakes, the ability to disable quote tweets and replies is a step in the right direction. Plus, there’s no forced algorithm, and it offers more customization to control your timeline.
Speaking of algorithms, I just watched Technology Connections’ video, "Algorithms Are Breaking How We Think," and wow, I hate how right it is. I think I’m also guilty of this without realizing it, I’ve become a slave to the algorithm (I love watching youtube shorts and doom-scrolling on Twitter). I admit it’s affected my comprehension and thinking, I feel like my brain has regressed because I struggle to sit through long videos, and even reading long articles can feel exhausting. It really made me realize how much algorithms impact the way we think & cognitive abilities. It makes me want to discipline myself by reading actual books and articles and watching long-form media to fix my attention span.
But it’s also depressing because this is going to be the internet for younger generations, especially with the rise of AI-generated spam content, which makes the Dead Internet Theory feel more real. It’s sad because young people deserve better. Again, the old internet had its flaws, but at least it forced us to search manually if we wanted to find things, it encouraged us to learn about websites, and—most importantly—we had more control over what we saw. Sure, the old internet was like the wild west, where you could stumble across disturbing content due to a lack of curation, but at least you could dodge it as long you know where to avoid that stuff & it won't appear on you again. Meanwhile, on modern social media, if you accidentally see a rage-bait post, the algorithm 'assumes' you 'like' that content and starts feeding you more of it just because you viewed or clicked on it.
It’s honestly crazy how centralized the internet has become. If you think about it, most of the internet is now controlled by a few big corporate social media platforms. I feel lucky that I experienced the old internet, which helps me navigate and resist the corporatization of online spaces, but younger generations don’t have that experience. To them, this is just how the internet is. They’ve grown up with it and see it as "normal." The fact that many younger people don’t know how to torrent or pirate, or even about blogging, just makes me realize how massive the tech-savviness gap is between Gen Z/Gen Alpha and Millennials/Gen X.
Honestly, all of this just makes me even more in favor of a decentralized internet. I’m so grateful that Dreamwidth exists, and I’m considering supporting it by paying for a premium account. I also appreciate platforms like Neocities and Bearblog, as well as other independent or volunteer-run websites that provide a space for people who want a more personalized, non-corporate internet experience.
I also want to learn how to build my own website and maybe even run my own server, it seems like an important and worthwhile investment for the future.
Anyway, once again Capitalism ruined Tech & Internet now everything has to be commodified and personalized for fucking ads.
