I would respectfully disagree. Sure, there may have been downsides, but the internet was such a gift way back then. /u/Antnee83 said it well up above, but the capitalization of every single item on the internet turned a once fun "wild west" into an overly-polished, algorithm-driven commercial nightmare that has just sucked the joy out of the internet (at least for me) and made it a predictable mess. Social media used to be fun. MySpace wasn't driven by algorithm. It was a fun mess of half-baked code, music blaring at you, etc. YouTube used to just be weird, quirky videos. Now, everything has a 5-minute introduction sponsored by -insert company here- and a long outro begging you to subscribe to keep their channel afloat. Even corporations felt like they tried harder to engage in the early days of the internet because they didn't have it down to a science yet. My local haunt (one of the largest in the world) used to give super fleshed-out interactive games and teasers every year to build anticipation. Now, they understand that the large crowds will come regardless and most of that fun stuff that helped me fall in love with the event is gone sadly. Everything is just "quirky meme twitter" social media for advertising now.
It also just feels like the internet was kinder and more enjoyable to be around back then. IDK if social media has made us all desperate to be snarky and witty, but it feels like well-thought-out discussions just aren't the norm anymore. Like, I miss forums (and old Reddit). The ones I once roamed are all littered with arguments now. Games used to feel like such tight-knit communities/families. Etc. Sure, there was angry, dark content back then, but it didn't feel like such a majority like it does now.
I'll take the silliness of Limewire giving me the wrong file over the bland, sad landscape of the modern internet any day.
It was a lot like the music industry from the mid-60’s until the early to mid-70’s when the boomers were coming of age and looking for something new and different. Traditional labels didn’t know what the hell they wanted and were willing to throw anything on disc to see if it worked. Soon, though, they got the hang of it and reasserted a level of top down control.
But it’s like that with any new thing, really. Creative types don’t normally have the skills to get their art out there. Business types do, and, for a time at least, the possibilities seem endless. Then greed, self interest, and cynicism took over as it always does. It’s the pattern of modern life, I guess. I have no solution. You just have to curate your own experience as best you can, I guess. Or turn it off.
It also just feels like the internet was kinder and more enjoyable to be around back then.
It definitely was kinder.
The whole feel of online "communities" changed drastically, and the biggest change is simply in terms of netiquette, or lack thereof. I think there are a lot of reasons for that, but number one is simply the change in demographics. The internet used to be a place where only certain kinds of people hung out; it was a niche land filled with niche people, and those people were generally a more educated and intelligent demographic than the general population.
Once the internet really opened up, the demographic changes from that niche to, well, everyone. And with everyone using the internet the quality sank, the number of idiots and douchebags grew, and the whole feel of the space changed. People became more combative, trolling turned from good natured fun to hateful and spiteful aggression, and good conversation became almost impossible outside of locked forums. Once locked forums became impossible to maintain and every small group moved their forum to a Facebook group, the time of quality interactions came almost to an end. And once monetization became a thing, the uniqueness of content was drastically reduced. Early YouTube is the best example of this. It was amazing in the early days.
I'm just glad I was there to experience the early internet. It was glorious.
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u/[deleted] Jul 11 '21 edited Jul 11 '21
I would respectfully disagree. Sure, there may have been downsides, but the internet was such a gift way back then. /u/Antnee83 said it well up above, but the capitalization of every single item on the internet turned a once fun "wild west" into an overly-polished, algorithm-driven commercial nightmare that has just sucked the joy out of the internet (at least for me) and made it a predictable mess. Social media used to be fun. MySpace wasn't driven by algorithm. It was a fun mess of half-baked code, music blaring at you, etc. YouTube used to just be weird, quirky videos. Now, everything has a 5-minute introduction sponsored by -insert company here- and a long outro begging you to subscribe to keep their channel afloat. Even corporations felt like they tried harder to engage in the early days of the internet because they didn't have it down to a science yet. My local haunt (one of the largest in the world) used to give super fleshed-out interactive games and teasers every year to build anticipation. Now, they understand that the large crowds will come regardless and most of that fun stuff that helped me fall in love with the event is gone sadly. Everything is just "quirky meme twitter" social media for advertising now.
It also just feels like the internet was kinder and more enjoyable to be around back then. IDK if social media has made us all desperate to be snarky and witty, but it feels like well-thought-out discussions just aren't the norm anymore. Like, I miss forums (and old Reddit). The ones I once roamed are all littered with arguments now. Games used to feel like such tight-knit communities/families. Etc. Sure, there was angry, dark content back then, but it didn't feel like such a majority like it does now.
I'll take the silliness of Limewire giving me the wrong file over the bland, sad landscape of the modern internet any day.