this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2026
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I too miss the day when the internet was for geeks and nerds, (and anyone who wasn't never left MySpace). Now everyone is online, and the novelty has been ruined. Not to mention how much more centralized the internet is now, compared to 20-30 years ago. Everyone visits the same five websites/apps now.
The barrier to entry was real, I had to figure out how to write a dialup script for my first PC to connect to the internet I purchased from the local high school. I didn't go there, that was just the only place in town with enough internet to resell.
It's good that everyone has access to information now. The impact it's had on visual arts and music really can't be overstated, it allows artists to reach their fans directly which is incredible. But it was a different place when everyones grandma wasn't reading Breitbart and repeating it on social media.
I agree the centralization of everyone on a handful of sites is an issue, it makes it too easy to manipulate and rig. I feel like social media was an incredible mistake but I don't know if we'll ever be able to put that genie back in the bottle.