We Need to Slam CTRL-Z On The Internet

Somewhere along the lines of "Search Engine Optimization", "User Engagement", and "The Algorithm", we got it all wrong.

Do you remember when the internet was filled with colour, eccentric websites, and the seemingly endless rabbit holes to fall through? If you're my age, I wouldn't be surprised if you don't. Apart from the bright lights of Cool Math Games, or stumbling upon anything from neal.fun, much of our upbringing was done after the capitalization of the internet. In fact, many of my earliest memories on a computer were spent looking through YouTube for Minecraft Tutorials (Pre-BlazedMC Days) or combing through the image results of "Funny Harry Potter Memes". As we'll discuss later, both of these are examples of creativity starting to be wrestled into an increasingly uniform medium.

Regardless, I've seen ample evidence of the "old internet". Websites like the Million Dollar Homepage or Coming Soon are living proof that more personality used to exist on the web. The internet used to feel scrapbook-y, full of eager people learning the bare-minimum basics of HTML/CSS to publish their personal websites, full of digital camera photos of their dogs. After all, the internet was designed to be just that: an interwoven net to connect one another -- a hypothetical space of self-expression.

So... What Happened?

The early 2000s brought millions to the internet. The web had grown to be as accessible as it had ever been, search engines replacing dial-in websites, with services like MySpace, and instant messengers like ICQ or Email becoming increasingly user-friendly. People could supplement, not replace, aspects of their lives with this growing user base of the World Wide Web. The internet was new and weird, yet simultaneously endearing and growing.

In 2004, the advent of Facebook ushered in a new era of digital connection. Mark Zuckerberg was able to digitize the college experience, and the platform grew like wildfire. However, I see Facebook as the first major example of the internet sacrificing expression for convenience. Facebook was... plain, in comparison to the likes of MySpace or its other predecessors. Nonetheless, this was actually a major advantage of Facebook. In contrast to previous platforms, Facebook offered frictionless onboarding. People no longer had to worry about making their MySpace page authentically represent themselves; there was no concern for comparison -- everyone on Facebook had the same layout, same colours, etc. A lack of choice levelled the playing field.

From the seeds of Facebook sprouted the weeds of other modern social media, and with them, a further flattening of internet culture. Hosting sites used to be an extension of the content they carried. Sites like YouTube or Instagram were amazing sites for hosting, but occupied the space that used to be filled with the user's character. More importantly, the reliance on tech oligarchs (like Meta and Google) drove the digital proletariat towards an increasingly dangerous and relevant issue.

The Monetization of Your Attention

Consider the following: You own a movie theatre, and you're a borderline-evil-ultra-capitalist. Now, people love the movies, but you need monetary return on this theatre -- you're an ultra-capitalist, remember? You need a profit incentive, and bringing joy to the masses was never going to fulfill you. What do you do? You're left with three options:

Charge creators to play their movies at your theatre. Seems great, right? People love to share their art... except that charging to play movies leads to a lack of supply, the absence of guaranteed compensation means no one wants to give you content.
Charge the viewers to watch the movies. Seriously? No one wants to pay to watch unpaid actors on screen.
Advertisements! Let external companies pay to market their product and prey on your loyal viewers. This option preserves the drive of the creators and viewers while bringing you your monetary value.

Now, the rate at which you charge advertisements is proportional to the number of viewers you'd serve at the movie theatre, and how many hours they watch the movies you show. So what do you do, as a borderline-evil-ultra-capitalist? Capture as big an audience, and keep them content and watching, as long as possible.

Welcome to the modern internet, where your attention is used as collateral to increase the value of digital ad-space. The tech monarchs quietly shifted away from showing you posts comprised of accounts you chose to subscribe to--friends, loved ones, disliked lab partners you wanted to keep tabs on--and created an endless, emotionless, algorithmically-powered feed designed to show an illegitimate amalgamation of anything you've ever shown a sliver of interest towards. These companies (some with market caps larger than several countries' GDPs) have funneled money into psychologists and engineers to design these apps to keep you scrolling for as long as possible. After all, they profit from every swipe, and look down on you from even further up with every hour spent consuming content.

I haven't even mentioned the ethics of data collection, storage, and exchange. We fell down a pretty steep slope since the old internet, didn't we?

What Now?

Idk lol I'm just a twenty-year-old software engineering student who started a blog an hour ago. Start an Instagram account where you post every day... that'll really stick it to the man, huh.

If I had to guess, I think it's time to reclaim the internet. This sounds a little useless, I'm sure. But consider learning basic HTML/CSS, publish your space on Neo Cities, be weird, be eccentric, be authentic, be okay with not understanding JavaScript, be YOU! Cut the corporate sleek look and make the back of your website bright green! If this sounds like too much work, start a blog! Talk about what you're passionate about :). I'd even stretch as far as saying posting on the aforementioned social media, but being more unconventional is a step towards reclaiming the digital space from big tech companies. Go conquer your corner of the digital space where you host anything reflective of your unapologetic self.

Talk soon, Ahmed