Millenial Introspections About the Old Internet

Getting on this site is strange for me, because it gives me nostalgic feelings despite not normally having nostalgia. I deeply would love for the old internet to come back, but I am also reminded that the old internet was already full of loneliness and depression, itself being remembered as an attempt, but not the success, of solving these issues.

What I miss about the old internet is the freedom of being able to connect with people in your own area, such as by searching by state, interest, or etc. And, of course, being free from algorithmic speculation about what I really want to see. This exists to an extent on here, though there are much fewer people here than the old internet had. 

What I do not miss about the old internet is also here. While I love fancy profile pages, I am left feeling a little empty when they don't have much substance to them with regard to the inner person's values and the meaning they derive from the world. This is not the fault of these individuals, but rather of a society that crushes the soul in the person. But it still gives me a yucky feeling, because I am sensitive to the existential dread and melancholy of others, which I often read behind the fanciful sensations on pages. 

What I would like to see is not a return to the old internet, but a new internet the seeds of which already exist in these retroprogressive attempts. It would include all of the artful self-expression of the old internet, but in themes that cohere with the sincerity and convictions of the individuals. I don't care if the person is a nationalist, capitalist, socialist, communist, or etc., or if they are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, atheist, agnostic, or etc. I would like to see a more in-depth exploration of, and the constructive formation of convictions around, values and meaning. And I mean that beyond performative demonstrations and grandstanding, which does already exist all over, and in fact dominates, most of the internet. I want to see serious Marxists hash it out with serious Libertarians, and shake hands afterwards, with each feeling as though they have been challenged and dealt a challenge to their opponent, perhaps equally but probably not (it is this not that leads to progress). 

I'd love to see beautiful, artful pages that awaken in the visitor a sense that the person they are visiting is a whole, complete set of processes of evaluation and action, and blogs, forums, and other posts filled with serious, earnest discussion around the best way of living moral and ethical lives, coming from every known perspective on the matter. That would make the internet great in a way that the old internet was only reaching toward.

So this nostalgia for me involves not only the sentiment that I wish things were the way they were, but also the memory of the progressive feelings I had when they were the way they were, which always made the internet feel a little empty, even if not when considered simply relative to the way things are now.