Using the internet like it's 1999

"going back to gopher or text-only browsers feels like admitting defeat tbh."

Interesting perspective

I have been using text-only browsers continually since the mid 90s (no lynx after 1999)

As such, I never "went back" to using the text-only browser as I have always used one, but as graphical browsers became worse I used them less

The customised text-only browsers I use today are 1.3 and 2.0 MB. I can compile them in seconds on underpowered computers

The so-called "modern" browser is [rapidly-expanding size] MB, not was easy to customise via editing the source code and takes substantial resources plus time to compile

Today, most www use for me is text-only. I am consuming information not graphics. I prefer textmode to X11 or the like

I avoid making HTTP requests to remote servers with graphical, Javascript-enabled browsers

I prefer using TCP clients and TLS forward proxies for making HTTP requests (at least one forward proxy now even has its own TCP client)

I use the text-only browser to read HTML files

For example, yc.htm is a file I create each day that contains all HN submissions where discussion is still open

Today yc.htm is 12 MB and there are 7268 stories

Using tiny command line utilities I wrote, the HTML in yc.htm is processed to CSV and added to an SQLite database. The unique domain names, today about 3704 of them, are extracted from all item URLs in yc.htm and DNS data is obtained via 1-3 pipelined lookups, each over a single TCP connection. The DNS data is then processed and inserted into an SQLite database

The TLS forward proxy stores the DNS data in memory so that I do not have to make any remote DNS when accessing the www

The yc.htm file can be opened in a text-only browser but I would not attempt it in a graphical one. The text-only browser feels more robust, less likely to stall or crash. I prefer the text-only formatting

By not using a graphical browser I would not say I am "admitting defeat". I have full control over HTTP headers, I only retrieve the data I want, I never see any ads, I do not send data to trackers or telemetry collection points

On the other hand, using a graphical browser does feel like "admitting defeat" as by doing so I allow "web developers" to destroy all preferences I have for how and when I want data retrieved and presented. If I allow the graphical browser unfettered access to the internet, and allow it to run unreviewed Javascripts, I lose all control over DNS and HTTP requests. For me, the experience of using a graphical browser where I have no such control is slow and painful, a horrible "user experience"

I do not see using "old" software as "nostalgia". I see it as being practical. "New" software generally sucks

The loss of "user agency" as some call it only occurs if one uses a so-called "modern" browser and runs Javascript. The seizure of user agency is accomplished by getting people to use a particular "user agent" that is controlled by online advertising companies (e.g., Google) or their business partners (e.g., Mozilla). If we called this a "choice" perhaps some readers might disagree. But so-called "Big Tech" have consistently argued that people "choose" Big Tech's "user agents" that, via their design and "default settings", effectively remove user agency for the majority of people who use them

You can always point at bad things happening, no matter what time period you're in. You need to look at the graph over decades/centuries. Poverty, child mortality, literacy, standard of living, access to healthcare, etc. etc. are all better than they have ever been, even in the poorest places in the world.

Hostile pages did that. Today, nearly every page has a dozen tracking scripts, starts off with a cookie popup, probably pops up a "please log in" or "please give me money" after you scroll half way down, still has ads that even more effectively mimic the site topic and design to trick you into clicking them, pops up a newsletter or cupon code popup if your cursor leaves the viewport, might be secretly running experiments on you by A/B testing titles, images or testimonials...

The assault on your attention is way worse these days, it's just (mostly) contained to the viewport.

Lots of people have pleasant memories of bookstores, and are unhappy that those stores haven't thrived since the Internet, but not needing to schlep down to a store to buy information printed on dead trees is an unalloyed good.