internet (culture)
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Created
Aug 19, 2022 10:40 AM
Edited
May 7, 2025 03:39 AM
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Related DG
On why we need to rethink the internetDying internet (the fall of click-baits)Dark forestsAlt accountsOn what the internet could beCozy websAlternate internet
On why we need to rethink the internet
Dying internet (the fall of click-baits)
We still bite at the clickbait, but it doesn’t taste so good. Something is wrong. We feel it intuitively and the numbers validate it. We’ve maxed out on clicks and swipes—and especially with pandemic controls and lockdowns coming to an end, it will be even harder to keep people scrolling mindlessly. The good news is that audiences want something smarter and more in-depth. But the real reason is that the market for clickbait is saturated, and longform feels fresher, more vital, more rewarding. https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/has-the-internet-reached-peak-clickability
It’s tiring that the internet has become focused on metrics, influencers, click-baits. Even though it’s hardly seen here, it’s more obvious in the west. This internet era might not last long, but people are hopeful for a better constructed internet.
Dark forests
Dark forests like newsletters and podcasts are growing areas of activity. As are other dark forests, like Slack channels, private Instagrams, invite-only message boards, text groups, Snapchat, WeChat, and on and on. These are all spaces where depressurized conversation is possible because of their non-indexed, non-optimized, and non-gamified environments. The cultures of those spaces have more in common with the physical world than the internet. https://onezero.medium.com/the-dark-forest-theory-of-the-internet-7dc3e68a7cb1
What we know of social media today (Facebook, LinkedIn, even Twitter), where it’s primarily inhabited by data scavengers, adtech marketers, and trolls, is noisy. We want to retreat to dark forests, away from the mainstream.
The dark forests grow because they provide psychological and reputational cover. They allow us to be ourselves because we know who else is there. Compared to the free market communication style of the mass channels — with their high risks, high rewards, and limited moderation — dark forest spaces are more Scandinavian in their values and the social and emotional security they provide. They cap the downsides of looking bad and the upsides of our best jokes by virtue of a contained audience.
If we do retreat into the dark forests and detach ourselves from mainstream media, we might risk depriving ourselves of a greater reward. Greater reward could mean meeting people and being around other people, because not everyone who joins the internet loved the internet. They might be in it for the people. “The bowling alley theory of the internet”.
Alt accounts
My Twitter followers slowly crept from 50 to 500, then doubled again. I noticed a "blue check" here and there. Not a big audience by any means—but enough to start doubting myself. Like others, I walked a thin line between stream-of-consciousness shitposting and using Twitter to seed a professional network. Neglect the former and you'll seem inauthentic; get too bold with the posts and you could alienate future employers and teammates. So I stopped posting as much; thoughts stayed in the drafts. The numbers (or lack thereof) were scaring me. https://jasmine.substack.com/p/-all-the-worlds-a-stage
Missing the days where we post about what we had for lunch, our feelings of something, our opinions of a matter without getting cancelled or worrying about likes and controversy.
At first Twitter was a means for me to do random shit, then I went into the thoughtboi route for a bit tweeting threads about creatorship shit that I eventually felt it was inauthentic. Now I’m just in between of tweeting shitposts and thought-provoking epiphanies or at least I tried to. As what Jasmine said and I agree that it’s interesting to trace back my journey of early internet days in pre-2010 and early post-2010s: “It’s funny to trace back my journey through social media: to think of the incredible ways the internet has evolved since 2010, the extent to which its impacts have shaped my life, the heightening seriousness with every new invention.”
Most people that find the internet distasteful are in consumption mode or create for algorithmic ends. This is a failure mode in the modern world. Creation when done well lets you counterintuitively disconnect with the digital and is a radical act. https://twitter.com/p_millerd/status/1585086901245325313
Maybe if more people use the internet for creation and good, then more people will understand the wonderful side effects that come with it.
related reads:
On what the internet could be
Cozy webs
The cozy web works on "(human) protocol of everybody cutting-and-pasting bits of text, images, URLs, and screenshots across live streams", hopefully one day evolving "from cut-and-paste to a personal blockchain of context-permissioned, addressable, searchable, interlinked clips" as Venkat puts it. https://maggieappleton.com/cozy-web https://studio.ribbonfarm.com/p/the-extended-internet-universe
Cozy web is casual and comfy. It’s the safe space communities of like-minded people around niche interests. Usually around community run channels like Slack and Discord.
Alternate internet
In one of our early tests, we had a “weekend mode.” That meant that the app was not available on the weekend, and instead there was a screen that told users “we are not here. Enjoy your experience outside of this app.”
Features that address concerns around care and safety have been priorities, and remain works in progress: a moderation system that protects those involved, but doesn’t feel carceral; procedures to report abuse that are thorough but not triggering; a citation function that ensures thinkers and creators are properly credited for their contributions to discussions. A robust set of community guidelines – a ‘living document’ that users can suggest additions to – mandates a tonal baseline of dinner-party civility. The action happens in forum-like ‘worlds’ related to different subjects – Afrofuturist texts, say, or Black feminism – that are updated with conversational prompts. Responses can be added via voice notes, and in the future gifs, images, links and text will be enabled, too. After a certain amount of time passes, conversations are archived; people are encouraged to move on and keep exploring. ….describes the platform’s visual identity as ‘Neopets for grown folks that love to tend to their personal libraries,’ or ‘like if you could take a walk with someone through the internet.’ She explains: ‘It serves to move people to want to play, connect and build together. We were moved by the early versions of the internet that felt more tactile and playful, where the jumble of it was embraced rather than hidden – places like Club Penguin, Neopets or Microsoft Paint. I wanted to thread together the wonder that the early internet evoked, alongside elements of nature that evoke feelings of presence and slowness.’