I don't enjoy the Internet any more • Hacker News Board

Re: I don't enjoy the Internet any more

#11

Post by ColdStream » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 5:36 AM UTC

akersten wrote: post #4

I'm simultaneously hearing that the internet is more addicting than cigarettes to the point where multiple states are finding success levying gigantic fines on companies for having too good of a product, and also that the internet is boring and drab. Are we on two different internets? Is the author simply immune from the hypnosis of social media? Anyway, the real internet is and always has been/will be smaller forums…

Cigarettes is a good analogy. It is both addictive but broadly doesn't really help out the individual consuming them.

Re: I don't enjoy the Internet any more

#12

Post by sickophancy » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 5:38 AM UTC

xvxvx wrote: post #8

Last week I finally deleted my LinkedIn account, the last social account I had. This week, I'm close to deleting my YouTube account. There's less content I want to see and more slop than ever. Apple Music is on the chopping block. These days, I only use it to preview vinyl records that catch my eye. Once my iPhone dies, I'm done with smartphones. The internet had so much potential. Shame.

What's the rationale behind ditching musicapp? It just delivers files to you with some UI fluff on top.

Re: I don't enjoy the Internet any more

#13

Post by S3verin » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 5:39 AM UTC

I always appreciate a good Disco Elysium reference.

Re: I don't enjoy the Internet any more

#14

Post by ColdStream » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 5:39 AM UTC

sickophancy wrote: post #10

The problem isn't the internet but rather the sites that people use on it, and the monolithic nature of "social media". Social media will be viewed as a failed experiment in the future.

Social media is a race to the bottom. Who can make the most addictive platform possible while also preventing others from getting too much of a foot hold.

Also, the scale of the media they must process means 'the algorithm' is a feature not a bug. It was always going to devolve into echo chambers.

It is funny seeing writers from the 1950's through to the 2000's all figure out the horrors this would unleash even if they didn't have a clue on the specifics of the technology.

I agree it will be seen as a failure but I suspect it is only once it has a point of absolute devastation that it cannot be ignored any more. I don't know what that will look like or when but it will be horrible.

Re: I don't enjoy the Internet any more

#15

Post by tayo42 » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 5:40 AM UTC

teekert wrote: post #7

I agree, but if we're being very honest I think the reason is just nostalgia. And I think that you can still find what you're looking for, but it's less in-your-face (as in; it's not a url on altavista.com). We're older now, being young was great, we had infinite time to roam and discover and have nice things (and our first real six-string, and trying different things and not thinking about tomorrow). The youth nowad…

Pretty sure discord is the PHPbb of today. That seems to be the place where people's congregate and the communities are smaller.

Re: I don't enjoy the Internet any more

#16

Post by ColdStream » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 5:43 AM UTC

xvxvx wrote: post #8

Last week I finally deleted my LinkedIn account, the last social account I had. This week, I'm close to deleting my YouTube account. There's less content I want to see and more slop than ever. Apple Music is on the chopping block. These days, I only use it to preview vinyl records that catch my eye. Once my iPhone dies, I'm done with smartphones. The internet had so much potential. Shame.

I will say this with ditching the smart phone. I have done it but also gone back to it. But it is merely used for specific tasks. SMS, a camera, weather report, the occasional podcast or audio book. And that's about it. Things that are difficult to do on a flip phone but alright on a 'smart' phone.

I have said it many times. Look at the original iPhone presentation. It was a device that was very deliberate. It wasn't made to addict, it was made to be productive. Get in, do the thing you want and then move on. If only it stayed that way.

Re: I don't enjoy the Internet any more

#17

Post by protocolture » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 5:45 AM UTC

ColdStream wrote: post #16

xvxvx wrote: post #8

Last week I finally deleted my LinkedIn account, the last social account I had. This week, I'm close to deleting my YouTube account. There's less content I want to see and more slop than ever. Apple Music is on the chopping block. These days, I only use it to preview vinyl records that catch my eye. Once my iPhone dies, I'm done with smartphones. The internet had so much potential. Shame.

I will say this with ditching the smart phone. I have done it but also gone back to it. But it is merely used for specific tasks. SMS, a camera, weather report, the occasional podcast or audio book. And that's about it. Things that are difficult to do on a flip phone but alright on a 'smart' phone. I have said it many times. Look at the original iPhone presentation. It was a device that was very deliberate. It wasn't…

I really liked my Windows Phone, mostly because it didnt have apps on it.

Although it did have facebook, it was facebook delivered by Microsoft engineers and was missing a lot of features.

Re: I don't enjoy the Internet any more

#18

Post by Terr_ » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 5:46 AM UTC

akersten wrote: post #4

I'm simultaneously hearing that the internet is more addicting than cigarettes to the point where multiple states are finding success levying gigantic fines on companies for having too good of a product, and also that the internet is boring and drab. Are we on two different internets? Is the author simply immune from the hypnosis of social media? Anyway, the real internet is and always has been/will be smaller forums…

> more addicting than cigarettes [...] also boring and drab

That's not actually a contradiction.

With addictions, it's extremely common for someone to do $THING not because of any (remotely durable) sense of happiness, but simply "to feel normal", as not-doing it feels empty or wrong or painful or intrusive.

If people are feeling hopelessly stuck repeating behaviors they don't actually enjoy, that's more like evidence for addiction rather than against it.

Re: I don't enjoy the Internet any more

#19

Post by marsten » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 5:47 AM UTC

forgetfreeman wrote: post #5

I am sick to death of the seemingly obligatory oh-but-im-all-in-on-ai disclaimer embedded in what is otherwise a (totally valid) critique of AI. Have the courage of your convictions already.

I think most people see AI as an economic inevitability, immune to what any of us thinks. Why spend the time and energy making a reasoned critique if nobody has a real choice in the end? It's like railing against the concept of money or the existence of the mosquito.

Re: I don't enjoy the Internet any more

#20

Post by ColdStream » Tue, Aug 18, 2026, 5:47 AM UTC

King-Aaron wrote: post #3

> Learning about the world through 500-character snippets, or 30-second videos, is not a serious way to engage with knowledge. It triggers our worst instincts in terms of tribalism and groupthink and makes us intellectually lazy. I can't agree more with this.

Brevity is an art form, one that most do not have. Just because something is short doesn't mean it is bad so long as it is sculpted just right. 99.9999% of stuff nowadays is not sculpted it is just simplified for quick reactions.