Why has the internet lost its sense of enjoyment and amusement?

Lately on x, the platform formerly known as twitter, my timeline is inundated with insubstantial posts revolving around a limited number of topics, akin to water spiraling down a drain. take last week, for example, when the conversation was dominated by discussions on taylor swift's romantic involvement with the football player travis kelce. any attempt to engage in other subjects would be promptly dismissed by the platform's algorithmic feed, rendering one irrelevant. currently, users who pay for elon musk's blue-check verification system reign supreme on the platform, often disseminating far-right-wing commentary and outright disinformation. irrespective of truthfulness, musk financially rewards these users based on the level of engagement their posts generate. this deterioration of the system manifests itself through the proliferation of fake news and mislabeled videos connected to hamas's assault on israel.


similar dreary trends are observed elsewhere in the online sphere. rather than showcasing photos from friends, instagram's feed inundates us with outdated posts and product advertisements. google search results are cluttered with substandard outcomes, while search engine optimization (seo) hackers have disrupted the once-effective practice of appending "reddit" to searches for authentic human-generated answers. additionally, meta, facebook's parent company, is reportedly engrossed in producing ai chatbots with various "sassy" personalities, including a dungeons & dragons dungeon master character based on snoop dogg. the prospect of interacting with such a persona holds as much appeal as engaging with one of those automated spam bots that inquire if they've reached the correct number.


the social-media landscape, as we once knew it, where we consumed and reciprocated posts among fellow humans, seems to have dissipated. the precipitous decline of x serves as an indicator for a new era of the internet that evokes less joy than its predecessor. remember the delight of exploring the online realm? it entailed stumbling upon websites we never imagined existed, encountering memes we hadn't already seen countless times, and perhaps even indulging in casual browser-based gaming. these experiences are now less readily available compared to a decade ago. this is largely due to a small number of mammoth social networks that have monopolized the internet's open space, centralizing and homogenizing our encounters through their opaque and ever-shifting content-sorting systems. consequently, when these platforms deteriorate, as observed on twitter under elon musk's leadership, there is a dearth of comparable alternatives ready to supplant them. although a few alternative platforms such as bluesky and discord attempt to absorb disillusioned twitter users, they struggle to thrive like saplings on the rain-forest floor, constrained by the overarching canopy. online spaces that offer fresh and diverse experiences lack the necessary room to flourish.


a twitter acquaintance recently conveyed their sense of grief regarding the platform's current state, stating, "i've actually experienced quite a lot of grief over it." it may appear unusual to harbor such nostalgia for a site frequently dubbed a "hellsite" by users. however, many others who previously regarded twitter as an indispensable social landscape express similar sentiments. some continue to tweet regularly, yet their messages are now less likely to surface amidst my swift-centric feed. musk recently tweeted that the company's algorithm strives to optimize time spent on x by prioritizing reply chains and diminishing external links that might divert users away from the platform. this new paradigm favors "thread guys" in the tech industry, prompts simplistic posts in the vein of "what's your favorite marvel movie?," and individuals who repeatedly focus on a single topic, such as derek guy, who incessantly tweets about men's fashion. algorithmic recommendations perpetuate the prominence of already popular accounts and subjects, effectively sidelining the smaller, more eclectic voices that once made twitter an engaging destination. (in fact, guy has amassed over half a million followers thanks to musk's algorithmic promotion.)


today, the internet feels emptier, akin to an echoing corridor, despite being filled with more content than ever before. it also lacks the air of casual informativeness. during its prime, twitter served as a real-time source of information, often the first platform to break news before traditional media outlets. blog posts and television news channels would compile tweets to illustrate prevailing cultural trends or debates. presently, the same aggregation is observed with tiktok posts, as evident in the multitude of local news reports on potentially hazardous and counterfeit "tiktok trends." however, tiktok deliberately suppresses news and political content, partially influenced by its parent company's compliance with chinese government censorship policies. instead, the app coerces users to scroll through dozens of cooking demonstrations or comical animal videos. while masquerading as a means to foster social community and user-generated creativity, it inadvertently obstructs direct interaction and serendipitous discoveries.


According to eleanor stern, a tiktok video essayist who has amassed nearly a hundred thousand followers, the issue lies in the increased hierarchical nature of social media compared to its previous state. stern explains that there is now a division between audiences and creators that did not exist before. platforms like youtube, tiktok, and twitch, which are highly popular among young users, function more like broadcast stations. a single creator posts a video for their millions of followers, and the interaction between followers is no longer as significant as it once was on platforms like facebook and twitter. stern notes that social media used to foster conversation and reciprocity, but now it primarily revolves around passive engagement through watching and listening.


these days, posting on social media is a less casual act due to the repercussions of blurring the line between our physical and digital lives. while instagram initiated the era of online self-commodification with its emphasis on selfies, tiktok and twitch have heightened this phenomenon. selfies alone are no longer sufficient; video-based platforms showcase not only your appearance but also your speech, mannerisms, and the environment you're in, possibly in real time. consequently, everyone is compelled to adopt the role of an influencer. the entry barrier is higher, and there is greater pressure to conform. hence, it is unsurprising that fewer individuals are willing to take the risk of posting while more settle into the role of passive consumers.


moreover, the offline patterns of our lives impact the digital world as well. previously, having fun online was often reserved for idle moments during office jobs. spending the entire day in front of computers necessitated finding content on our screens to fill the downtime. blogs from a previous generation, like the awl and gawker, catered to aimless internet browsing, offering intermittent gossip, entertaining videos, and personal essays curated by editors with unique tastes. however, in the aftermath of the pandemic and with the ongoing work-from-home policies, office workers are less bound to their computers, diminishing their inclination to seek validation through social media likes. they can now step away from their desks to tend to their children, walk their dogs, or attend to household chores. while this may have a positive effect on individuals, it also means that fewer individuals obsessed with the internet are actively creating posts for others to consume. consequently, the overall user growth rate of social platforms has declined significantly in recent years, with estimates suggesting it has dropped to 2.4 percent in 2023.


in the past, blogs played a crucial role in aggregating news and stories from across the internet. for a while, it seemed as though social media feeds could fulfill this function. however, it is now evident that tech companies have little interest in directing users to content outside of their own platforms. as reported by axios, the top news and media sites have experienced a decline of over half in organic referrals from social media over the past three years. additionally, x no longer displays article headlines that users link to. the diminishing flow of referral traffic disrupts media business models and further erodes the quality of original content available online. the rise of inexpensive, instantly generated ai content only exacerbates this issue.


choire sicha, the co-founder of the awl and current editor at new york magazine, attributes the degradation of social media to events from a decade ago. sicha remarked that if given the chance, he would go back and eradicate the year 2014. this year witnessed the rise of viral phenomena such as gamergate, where disenchanted video game fans launched digital attacks on journalists and game developers via social media. it was also the year of ellen degeneres' celebrity-packed oscars selfie, which gained millions of retweets, and the fleeting fame of alex, an average teenage retail worker from texas who garnered attention for his boy-next-door appearance. these events foreshadowed some of the forces that would solidify in subsequent years, including the dominance of the loudest voices, the entrenchment of traditional celebrities on new platforms, and the increasing vacuity of content that receives the most fervent sharing and promotion. nonetheless, at that point in time, they seemed more like exceptions rather than the prevailing norm.


I have been attempting to recollect the moments in the past when i derived enjoyment online, free from the burden of anonymous trolling, automated recommendations, or excessive monetization schemes. these memories transport me to a bygone era, before social networks emerged as the predominant thoroughfares of the internet. specifically, my mind wanders to a website known as orisinal, which served as a platform for games built with flash, an interactive animation software that played a prominent role in the whimsical internet culture of the early 2000s, before the convergence of content onto unified platforms.


the games hosted on orisinal possessed a charming and endearing quality, characterized by their cartoonish aesthetics, delightful pastel hues, and engaging activities. one could partake in various endeavors, such as guiding a rabbit as it effortlessly soared among the stars or assisting mice in brewing a perfect cup of tea. orisinal's presence was accessible to all, devoid of the distractions imposed by follower counts or sponsored content. apart from emailing the website to a friend, there were no avenues for sharing. while remnants of that antiquated version of the internet still exist, it has been overshadowed by the modes of interaction incentivized by social networks.


recently, i stumbled upon an emulator containing all the orisinal games through reddit. swiftly immersing myself in one particular game involving agile deer leaping across woodland gaps, i found solace and fulfillment. my only measure of achievement came in the form of a personal high score. nevertheless, it proved to be a more gratifying and less solitary experience compared to the current landscape on platform x. ♦