Long but enjoyable read. I was surprised it didn't mention AI.
I guess it was published in 2022. It hadn't become as ubiquitous yet. I would look forward to a follow up that includes some commentary on AI accelerating these issues
The internet is already over (2022)
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Re: The internet is already over (2022)
#12Long but enjoyable read. I was surprised it didn't mention AI.
I guess it was published in 2022. It hadn't become as ubiquitous yet. I would look forward to a follow up that includes some commentary on AI accelerating these issues
Here’s the AI version: https://youtu.be/UShsgCOzER4?si=BNezapA1D5pz4dnW
HN: “well, this was bound to happen anyway without AI, it’s just fearmongering, dont pay any attention to the man behind the curtain” hehe
Re: The internet is already over (2022)
#13My take on declining online social engagement is; a lot of people like to consume online content passively e.g. just reading Facebook posts or watching a YouTube video without actually liking or commenting. Another thing is; increasing number of people came to realize that privacy does matter and they refuse to participate in online dramas that can damage their reputation or harm their mental health.
Re: The internet is already over (2022)
#14It isn't novelty, it is dependency. Because we are dependent on a connection we stop using it for novel reasons.
The internet age is over is correct. The age of being connected has started.
More and more people connected to the internet but not actually using it the way we saw it in the 90s and 2000s. Mid-2010s we started to see the paradigm take place.
Re: The internet is already over (2022)
#15This person is just, like many others, mistaking the death of public social media and the open web for the death of being online. All the interesting activity has retreated to Discord, Slack, Telegram, Mastodon, Signal, private and niche boards, game chats, etc.
This stuff is all taking place in private rooms and small silos. If you aren't in them, you don't see it. Reddit still has a bit of a pulse but is probably on the endangered list. TikTok is probably the last big social and has an increasingly negative reputation, meaning it'll probably be "out" pretty soon.
The public Internet is probably dying, a victim of spam and over-commoditization.
Re: The internet is already over (2022)
#16I've been using the Internet since the days of Netscape Navigator and 14.4 kbit/s dial-up modems. Maybe it's just that I'm getting older, but I really miss the old Internet. Ironically, it felt less "anonymous" back then, and it was easier to be part of a community — users knew each other. Now, everyone is here, and the quality of content has significantly declined.
I’d like to offer an alternative: people who still write on personal blogs and like to interact with each other.
https://ooh.directory is constantly growing if you want to look for things to read.
https://kagi.com/smallweb Is a fun alternative way to discover new content.
I started a series almost a year ago to help people discover interesting humans and their blogs: https://peopleandblogs.com/
Bearblog has a discovery section: https://bearblog.dev/discover/
The spirit of the old web is still alive and thriving in places that are now no longer mainstream. It takes some effort to find them but great sites are still out there.
Re: The internet is already over (2022)
#17I agree with a lot of this, but think the future of the Internet will be u-shaped:
- People will use it drastically less. I got rid of my smart phone ~2 years ago and it's been a huge life improvement. Still on the computer a lot, but when I leave the room I'm in the real world again.
- When they do use it it will be drastically higher quality. I'm working on building the World Wide Scroll as a successor to the web (https://wws.scroll.pub/), an idea I first had 12 years ago (https://breckyunits.com/spacenet.html), but took a while to figure out all the infra.
Re: The internet is already over (2022)
#18I've been using the Internet since the days of Netscape Navigator and 14.4 kbit/s dial-up modems. Maybe it's just that I'm getting older, but I really miss the old Internet. Ironically, it felt less "anonymous" back then, and it was easier to be part of a community — users knew each other. Now, everyone is here, and the quality of content has significantly declined.
> everyone is here I think this is the answer. Once upon a time we were way fewer people, and many interests were shared among those people (because we pretty much were all "geeks"). We've always had trolls, spammers, etc. but it still felt like we were part of a big community. Now everybody is here, and that feeling is no more. It's like moving from a small village or town (where everybody knows each other) to a hug…
And nobody makes Monty Python or The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy references anymore. I had a boss 15 years ago who had watched all things Star Trek, just like me; Knew all the things. But at one point he mentioned he wasn't really a fan, it was just "required reading, part of the literature". This is an interesting one. There used to be certain things that all nerds knew, and could talk about, use as analogies and metaphors. Something to talk about just like sales people (stereotypically, used to) talk about sports. I realized early in my career that's why some people in business follow sports, so they didn't get cut out of conversations. I always had nothing to say when that topic came up. But it's tricky because geeks and nerds shouldn't be gatekeepers about what the entertainment is, or the literature, because that cuts out a lot of people who should feel included. But at the same time most people think it's generally nice to have some common things to reference, talk about, and normalize on. I think social media, politics, streaming services, etc. have totally blown away these shared frameworks in society, and it's kind of a bummer, even though it's great to have lots of choices. People used to watch the same TV shows and talk about it the next day. I guess sports is basically the last thing that's shared. Thanks for attending my Ted Talk...
Re: The internet is already over (2022)
#19This article feels like a window into the mind of someone who drank too deeply of being perpetually online, and now feels the pendulum swing the other way.
Like the verbal equivalent of that one time I drank far too much Gin and my stomach finally said "no" all over the bathroom floor (missed the toilet — oops).
I'm glad to never have gone down that particular path. Stuck with my flip phone for ages, etc.
But for people who did, just know that there's room for moderation. There is plenty of space between "all day online" and "the internet is over."
I like this quote from "Mutant Message Down Under":
My suggestion is that you taste the message, savor what is right for you,
and spit out the rest; after all, that is the law of the universe.
Re: The internet is already over (2022)
#20If Sam Kriss spent two years to write any of his blog posts into a book, he'd be Nietzsche. Still makes for a sparkling bit of thought, easily reread.
No, he wouldn't. The whole thing is all blitz and little substance of someone who seems to be over-read and under-thought. It's best described in his own words: a handful of sugar instead of a meal.