Avoid the mainstream media, advertising-centric sites, social media, et al, and the Internet is mostly fine. Stick to the niche sites and services that have always been there and it’s a much more pleasant place.
I seriously had that thought today. I do believe journalists report the facts and are not 'fake' news. But boy, is news opinionated nowadays. Every channel you go to, its all about selling you outrage. The CNN YouTube channel is especially cringe worthy for me. To see a respected news channel turn to click bait titles and circling pictures makes me kind of sad. I wish they didn't do that.
These niche places are great exactly because they're hard to find, and the community there grows organically.
I'm on HN now because slashdot was flailing years ago, and a friend I knew IRL mentioned it ....
I probably spend less than five minutes a day on traditional social media which feels toxic in comparison.
It's a relatively small site, but it's a model for how social networks should work. Because it's built around a shared interest that people spend money on, the site can sell ad slots instead of relying on real-time bidding based ad networks.
If we give the HN hug to enough niche sites, maybe they'll pick up their SEO game, improve the ranking and start optimizing for the big ad dollars :)