I now understand that writing like this is lamenting over a dearth of things to consume.
The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
101–110 of 291 posts
Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
#102It’s true. AI slop is not what will kill the fun Internet. It’s just the mechanisation of the forces that already killed it.
Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
#103People just aren’t seeing it because they aren’t going to the fun places. Of course the major social platforms and search engines will never point the way to fun. Fun is made without any financial motivation.
The fun places are out there aplenty. People just have to go out and find it because no algorithm or advertisement is going to point the way. I get tons of fun in all sorts of small and specialized ultra-nerdy communities.
Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
#104I run an entire site and newsletter dedicated to showing fun things from across the web.
I promise you this is not true. It's just all buried under a mountain of crap now.
Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
How did they in the 1990s/2000s/2010s?
Lower cost of living and higher incomes when compared to purchasing power of a dollar.
That and also people weren't paying for Netflix, Disney+, PlayStation online, ChatGPT+, etc
Edit: Also people were having more kids back then and earlier in life, so they had less time for hobbies and "finding one's self", they'd be busy with their kids and work.
The bored DINKS with free time looking for hobbies is a relatively recent phenomenon in western societies (10-15 years).
Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
#106> I’ve been mourning the old Internet over the past year or two... As a kid on the Web from the early 2000s through the mid-2010s, we knew we were living through something special. It's funny because I knew lots of people in the early 2000s who were mourning the loss of the "old Internet" then. Kind of like how everyone thinks the music they listened to as a teenager is the best and it's all been downhill since.
Reminds me of how every single person you meet here in Austin also mourns the Austin they loved from 10 years ago. This could be someone mourning 2015, 2005, 1995, or 1985…
Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
You could also just ask current young people how they feel about the internet and compare it to how young people described the internet in ~2005-2010. I guess my feeling is that no one really "likes" the internet in its currnet form. Gen X got to see the birth of the web, millenials got the birth of social media, Gen Z got tiktok and addictive recommendation algorithms, now Gen Alpha gets AI slop. Idk just seems like…
> millenials got the birth of social media ..and a lot of us weren't thrilled about it.
It was still an extremely exciting period of time that everyone was enjoying at the time. Mostly because it was augmenting existing friendships rather than replacing them with algorithmic content.
Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
How did they in the 1990s/2000s/2010s?
Flea markets. Lol but I went to a flea market the other day with $100 thinking that was going to go far — I managed to buy one jacket for $80. So… I dunno.
Thrift and vintage stores have been pivoting to the premium consumer as well.
Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
#109The music was new, black polished chrome
And came over the summer like liquid night
The DJ's took pills to stay awake and play for seven days
There's something special to the loss of promise. That's the thing most often mourned, the potential.
There was a period when information wanted to be free and the web wanted to be something that makes people better... one way or another. Maybe it would make democracy better, or bring down bad regimes. Maybe make people smarter. Maybe it would democratize education or commerce or something in some way... "heals the world."
That period is a different period for everyone... maybe overlapping with one's optimistic youth. The promise was also a different promise, for different people. Early social media. Wikipedia. FOSS.
Wasted potential is a mournful thing.
Re: The fun has been optimized out of the Internet
#110> I’ve been mourning the old Internet over the past year or two... As a kid on the Web from the early 2000s through the mid-2010s, we knew we were living through something special. It's funny because I knew lots of people in the early 2000s who were mourning the loss of the "old Internet" then. Kind of like how everyone thinks the music they listened to as a teenager is the best and it's all been downhill since.
I as a Gen-Zer mourn the "old internet" of the 2010s. I agree and feel like nostalgia is kind of a lie. In my own generation for example, I've seen a transition from "no good music has come out since 2000, we missed the GB/N64 era of gaming" to deep nostalgia for PS3/Xbox and Linkin Park era metal as the golden era.
I've heard people describe this phenomenon in basically two ways:
- It's all relative to your teenage years, which splits up generations as a result.
- The past is another country.
The good news is: taste and disgust are also learned. So anyone can pick up and move to another worldview, if they're willing to do new things.