Why is the internet turning into shit, Veeky Forums ?

Why is the internet turning into shit, Veeky Forums ?

I'm sure there's some rational explanation to why people enjoy such a meaningless, empty experience. I'm talking about Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Buzzfeed, what you'd call the "normie web".

Recently, I've been getting into very heated arguments with people who think things like the Facebook algorithm or Youtube censorship are OK. "They're private companies", they say. "They can do what they want." Which means they're OK with their digital experience being created by and to the profit of advertisers.

All of this for the same generic sanitised content, the same meaningless numeric stampedes, over and over. I'm pretty sure everything was better ten years ago. Or maybe I'm mistaken and I'm getting old and grumpy.

What is the problem ? How did it happen ? Is there a rational explanation ?

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>Why is the internet turning into shit, Veeky Forums ?
Because you dislike change

>What is the problem ? How did it happen ? Is there a rational explanation ?

The perverse incentives created by the advertising economy are the core of it. Expertise and literature on 'driving user engagement' (read: porting slot machine style addiction engineering over to the web) has also built up significantly in the last decade.

This isn't history, though.

Because it's worse

The real internet will never go away because, without it, the memes would dry up.

Veeky Forums, a few forums, and the occasional news article are the only things I still browse, the internet has become boring and sterile. The worst part is that I spent so much of my youth on the computer I have no other hobbies to replace it

OP here, I don't think I do. But I can't deny I miss what I remember as a "dangerous" and exciting internet, when getting rich wasn't the main concern of people creating websites and online services

I'm working around people who speak about this kind of shit regularly, it's tiring. I also feel the internet became a prolongement of our material selves. You can't be X on the streets, Y on the internet. I feel like it seems normal for a lot people - the idea of an internet to "liberate" one's self does not excite them.

>I'm sure there's some rational explanation to why people enjoy such a meaningless, empty experience. I'm talking about Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Buzzfeed, what you'd call the "normie web".
How are these things empty and meaningless? I reject your claims until you provide evidence.

>"They're private companies", they say. "They can do what they want." Which means they're OK with their digital experience being created by and to the profit of advertisers.
Why isn't it okay? Where is it written in the fabric of the cosmos that what they're doing is wrong? Where does it say on the quark of an atom that their behavior is immoral?

>All of this for the same generic sanitised content, the same meaningless numeric stampedes, over and over. I'm pretty sure everything was better ten years ago.
Were you using the internet ten years ago? This website was nothing but mudkips and shoop da woop, and myspace was a shittier version of facebook.

What are you freaking out about even. "Wahhh my opinions!" this isn't your blog fuck off.

Facebook, Twitter and Buzzfeed are just today what TV and tabloid garbage was yesterday. The average person was always consuming this kind of shit, only in different forms. 10-15 years ago, everyone on the internet was an IT nerd and/or rich, and when it became cheap and more easily accessible, the bleps started to join and some people made a fortune catering to their needs.

But it's not like you have to go on these shitty sites, the internet is still huge, you can just find and go to whichever sites suit your tastes.