I Wish the Internet was Not a Necessity

I'm deeply unsatisfied with the state of the modern internet.

I struggle to express how I feel about this topic without delving into into tired "phone bad" rhetoric. My frustration just isn't that simple, but it's not unique or original either—I don't know anybody who doesn't hate the centralized, corporate, engagement-driven hellhole the internet has become.

Despite that, we all subscribe directly to its vision with little pushback.

Instagram is now the default mode of communication between friends outside of texting (despite Facebook's well-known status as "one of the most evil companies on the planet"), TikTok exists (and is creating ADHD in millions of youth all across the globe as we speak), and Twitter-Now-X recently pulled off quite possibly the largest US election interference campaign in the history of the country.

Google, the plucky Stanford University startup company, effectively controls one of the most useful inventions in human history for the entire world due to the simple fact that it maintains the browser with the most market share. Any browser who wants to even stay in the running is forced to play Chromium Catch-Up and constantly maintain parity with Google's demands without any say in the matter.

YouTube, the fun video sharing website, now appears from the outside to be a semi-viable career option, leading to an inbound flood of "Content" from starry-eyed kids consisting primarily of either high-energy Camera Shouters or video essayists producing lengthy videos about increasingly specific topics.

There is a reason I abstain from using social media services and instead opt to keep my online presence contained to my own websites. The way I see it, social media has become a vehicle primarily for grifting, advertisement, and "Content" designed to be consumed and forgotton, and I increasingly find there is less for me to find much value in. In order to have a good experience online, I've found I have to carve out my own quiet space and heavily curate the websites I use. I do rely on a handful of other websites like Bandcamp and itch.io, but I've learned to not take internet services for granted; I've seen far too many of them succumb to platform decay and cease to be worthwhile.

I love the internet. It's brought me so much inspiration and joy, but not through haphazard use. The internet is a tool that you must learn how to wield.

In recent years I've seen lots of nostalgia and longing for the less commercial internet of years past. Several artists that I follow have let this mentality influence their online presence, and have once again started putting effort into their personal websites.
Sites like GeoCities clone NeoCities have appeared, and hundreds of thousands of internet users are now once again designing their own spaces instead of relying only on social media websites. Handmade, imperfect, creative, and clunky spaces that better reflect their creators' personalities have begun to dot the web. These are sites that have been created purely for their creators' enjoyment, and thus feel farm more human than any social media website has felt in years.

Finally, the World Wide Web is once again being used for its intended purpose.

Though I distance my self from the busier parts of the internet that I dislike, I find that those quieter moments on the internet—when I stumble across someone's personal blog, find someone's obscure portfolio, or get sucked down some kind of rabbit hole comprised of weird online art projects—I live for that part of the internet.

My greatest hope is that this website can, in some way, provide that feeling to someone else.