My opinions on the current state of the internet
I think most people on this site and plenty other people would agree that the internet is in a bit of a shit state right now, which is why I've decided to write this. I'm not saying this in an "I was born in the wrong generation, wish I grew up with AOL, modems, and geocities" way but I do believe that, in certain ways, the internet was better in the 90s to early 2000s era in terms of structure and commercialization, or lack thereof.
If we look at the internet of today, you have a few major social media sites: facebook, instagram, twitter, and youtube. These sites are all managed and organized the same way: people join the site, people are forced to make themselves look like and fit in with everyone else, they get their data and personal information stolen and sold, they get addicted, and they almost never leave the site (even if they hate it).
So we have a few extremely corporate and commercialized sites that give you virtually no freedom of expression and steal your data. In addition to all that, these sites (especially social media) have really negative effects on mental health (i.e. body dysmorphia from unrealistic beauty standards propagated by influencers, short attention span from an infinite and easy-to-access flow of information in often very short formats (for example tiktok)) and society as a whole; many sites put you in an echo chamber or allow for state-controlled media and propaganda along with, as we've seen in some cases, meddling in foreign elections.
WIP cuz I'm lazy