The Decade the Internet Lost Its Joy

There are still a lot of joyful things and great communities on the net. Haven't spend too much time there, but I wouldn't count tiktok among those places though. Proportional to user counts these are still relatively bland places.

That people are able to monetize attention today has advantages and disadvantages. Before the content was filtered by being provided by enthusiasts that didn't get compensation besides feedback. Today it enables some people to spend time together while getting payed to do so, which is also pretty great.

But there is a profound dark side to the huge amounts of money coming in. Advertising always had a bad reputation, but it seems they perfected their animosity to anything human in the 21st century. At least they pay for some content that I like.

But I don't really want a net that "takes care of me". Although such a thing did indeed exist once. At least 10 years ago someone would have helped you with emphasized profanity to underline the silliness of that thought.