hey, i noticed a while ago how internet was much funnier when i was little, we didn't have AI to ruin art, we didn't have that much of a social pressure to be like all those artificially harmonized models yk, and i don't mean to sound like a privileged, idiotic activist, i only feel like.. something's wrong with the reality we live now.. people stopped apreciating nature, little pauses, long walks and tbh everything that isn't behind a screen is under apreciated nowadays. And most part of the society doesn't even care that they can't think about anything for themselves without asking to chatGPT, and the extinction of critical thinking will make us easy targets to matipulation... tbh that scares me, i'm doing my best to be different from those people but those apps are made specifically to lock you in them so the only solution i found was quiting instagram, tiktok and youtube shorts (cuz long youtube videos are still fun, im not crazy enough to cut all of them of my life, lol)
PS: Having said that, if anyone knows of any websites that simulate the internet from the 2000s, I'd love to hear your suggestions =)
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FauxHumanoid
i don't think "bringing back the 2000s" is the most proactive way to phrase that solution; it excludes the things that kind of sucked about the 2000s, actually, and is focused on the past rather than the present, which is what we can actually affect. i prefer to think that "the internet sucks now but there's ways to contribute to a future where that is not the case" rather than "the internet sucks now but it used to not suck which sucks" because just moping about it isn't going to change anything.
i have a longer writeup about the subject in my drafts but a way you can make an impact is by moving away from mainstream social media, but instead of living under a rock forever, you curate your content yourself instead of having algorithms do it for you. the point is to reinvigorate the freedom/control and decentralization of the web in its intended form. the internet is a network of sites full of wonderful things, so why limit yourself to just a couple apps?
i like browsing neocities and nekoweb's site directories every once in a while. beyond this i use a lot of smaller independent online services, like newgrounds, dreamwidth and... friendrewind! beyond that i just do not engage with most internet bullshit outside of my little dose of tumblr every once in a while.
Yeah, you’re right, and I totally agree with your point of view. And yes, the early internet had a lot of problems that have since been resolved, but the problems we face now are, in my opinion, worse than the ones we had back then. And I’m not just saying this out of nostalgia—I’m saying this because, in those early years of the internet, it was easier to do without it because of the problems it had, and now it’s not like that anymore; and that’s exactly the problem: now that those issues have been resolved and we no longer face obstacles to using it, the amount of dopamine per second is so high that, sometimes, it feels like you’re trapped in a cage! And, at the end of the day, you feel so overwhelmed and sad and realize that you spent the whole day—which was supposed to be relaxing—on your phone (and I kind of disagree with what you said about me limiting myself to just a few apps, which I don’t think is true; these apps just don’t feel right to me because they trap me, and if I open them, I might not have the self-control to close them before I start doomscroling, so I’d rather not use them)
by aliciaczss; ; Report
oski
you're not the only one who's noticed this—lately, whenever i walk through the park, I see groups of four or five kids just sitting on benches, each scrolling through their phone. It's so sad, I can't even describe it.
Cordell
The advent of smartphones, and later, algorithmification did seem to make everything seem a bit too online, and less so just doing stuff for the sake of it. A kind of a sanitisation of content that makes its personality less present, less unique in the goal of chasing numbers. Do I wish the stuff I post online got more views, more plays? Yeah sure, why not, but I ain't gonna change anything about what I make just for that, that would make it feel soulless and not even worth doing in the first place.
Unfortunately, I can't give any other nostalgia sites like this one, as this one is my own first foray, but I recall there was a post on this very site... somewhere, either blog or forum, I forgot where 😅... that had a few other recommendations
PrettyPrincess
This is SO true! It's insane how much has changed because of the internet. I wish the internet would have stopped evolving (at least in the way it's known today with like TikTok) so that people wouldn't be so dependent on it. the internet should be a secondary or third thing in life. Not a first.
Gµ††§¥Grêêñ
That is honestly SOOO TRUE like genuinely I believe that the youth today are ruined sure enough the internet was rough in the older days but I grew up with no restrictions and to be fully honest it was about 90 percent better then the crap kids are exposed to today really the old internet and social media was far far more suppressive and calm