Is the Internet dividing now?

[GeAr-DX]

I noted that in the last months the internet is kinda of dividing itself even in the surface. This is the time that I will sound like a old dude, but that's life.

When the great normie wave happened and a lot of people get to acess internet at any moment it changed everything. Forums died, most fan-websites dedicated to franchieses died too, Youtube became a empire, social medias became a LOT more toxic, and even 4chan got to get worser (that's a monumental feat), and... the death of the Flash Games (ouch!).

But since 2017 I saw some stuff from the old net web reborning. For example, in my country Orkut was a big success, it stayed good and with movement until the end here. And now a dude called Murilo just remade it and some people just deleted their other social media accounts and just get back to it. Some stuff like the MSN got back, some forums are having more people, some people dropped google for Yandex, Youtube for other video sites, Newgrouds getting more movement again, and things like that.

The point is, maybe the internet will divide even in the surface. One side of normies and one side of people making a "internet renaissanse"?

[Mr. Ion]

I can see what you're talking about with how insular and deep the old internet was and how widespread internet use revolutionized that forever, but I think the new internet is here to stay, for better or worse (probably worse, really). People do use forum sites but they also use the more popular social media/websites in tandem, and even so, the internet is so vast, with the huge mainstream and then smaller communities that interact with the mainstream. With how ingrained and convenient this structure of the internet and big tech companies are, I don't really see it changing in the same way anytime soon. At the same time, I do think there is greater criticism of these sites, and I think people are now more willing and genuinely want to form their own communities on the internet and sort of reject the environment of the net that was common in from the late 2000s to the 2010s. I don't know, these are kind of my own observations.

[SonicBoom]

Welcome to Eternal September. The internet's been struggling with this since 1993. In the past decade or so, the big change has been due to the influx of the smart phone, and the different habits and expectations people have when accessing the internet on a computer versus accessing it on their phone. But there's no putting that genie back in its bottle.

[Sonicstitch]

 

Sorry to anyone that really hates the guy, I am about to paraphrase.
But…
“Make the Internet Nerdy Again”

I remember when myspace came out, I thought it was a bad thing?
A website where people use their real names and talk to people they know in real life?
Why would anyone want the  jerks they know from school to see what they do online in their free time?

 

[Guergy]

On 8/2/2022 at 12:49 AM, Sonicstitch said:

Sorry to anyone that really hates the guy, I am about to paraphrase.
But…
“Make the Internet Nerdy Again”

I remember when myspace came out, I thought it was a bad thing?
A website where people use their real names and talk to people they know in real life?
Why would anyone want the  jerks they know from school to see what they do online in their free time?

How else will they dox them? And offer a "pizza party" when they really want to mess with them? On a more serious note, I do agree with the principle of the thing but I will admit that I like some of the quality of life changes on the internet. 

[Rabbitearsblog]

In a way, yes the Internet is much more divided now than it was years ago.  Years ago, the Internet was just starting out and we didn't have many sites where people could communicate with each other or make their own content for the world to see.  But nowadays, because we have bigger social media sites like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Reddit to name a few examples, where even more people have come on board to create their own content or discuss things, the Internet has become much more vast than ever before.

Unfortunately, this comes with a price as now there are even more disagreements among content creators, viewers and people in general as they now got a platform to discuss the topics they wanted to talk about.  And whenever people make content that features opinions that are different from other people's opinions, then fights are sure to break out and lately, the internet has become even more toxic due to many people disagreeing with each other in different topics and expressing those views in highly aggressive ways, whether the opinions are mean-spirited or the opinions are full of genuine kindness.  So, yes the internet has become more divided than ever before due to many people finally having their own platforms to state their opinions and therefore, lots of different opinions about any topic starts spreading really fast.

[Duelistic Nature]

In a sense, it's really just history repeating itself. Not many people could read in the past. Once people could read a lot more people started having discussions about their point of view on certain topics (interpretation of religious scriptures or medical studies for example). It was only limited by distance. Communities that lived relatively close by, merchants bringing books around, or mail being carried over from town to town limiting the spread of said knowledge/ points of view

With the internet now so free and open to everyone and this instant, we've reached a state where everyone can access everything, everyone, and almost (given your reception/ connectivity to the web) at any time. And yes that gives people the freedom to do literally almost anything they'd like: For the good, the bad, the weird, and the ugly Welcome to the Internet - Bo Burnham.

Is it really so divided you see two parties of people? I don't think so. I think it's just people who were used to old programs and are not liking the hubbub of the newer programs (everything needs to integrate with something for 'easier access', link your google with your Twitter, link your skype to your google, etc, etc, etc.) and finding like-minded people banding together to bring back "simpler times". Calling it a renaissance, I don't think so, because what @SonicBoom mentioned fits that bill more closely with this giant influx of people suddenly gaining the ability to gain unrestricted intellectual freedom.

I'm a bit in the same boat, sure I could join a discord server for people's opinions on demand, but I sorta like taking my time reading forum posts when the world is in this 24/7 economic state.