dreaming of a better internet
sari and
dreaming of a better internet
The Internet fails to scale gracefully.
"The core ideal of the Internet is that one trusts people, and that given an opportunity, people will find their way to be reasonably decent. I happily restate my loyalty to that ideal. It’s all we have." (Jaron Lanier, Who Owns the Future?)
Search engines — the window into the web for many people — top their results with pages containing thousands of words of auto-generated nothingness, perfectly optimized for search engine prominence and to pull in money via ads and affiliate links while simultaneously devoid of any useful information.
Social networks have become “the web” for many... See more
Social networks have become “the web” for many... See more
vis Molly White
I am so, deeply, truly uninterested in reaction (which is why I don’t read the comments on my public Instagram account). But I am so curious about response: the mysterious sacred moments when we are compelled into action (often unwitnessed by others) or invited into new ways of thinking.
It’s the difference between seeing a painting through a... See more
It’s the difference between seeing a painting through a... See more
Mari Andrew • A Life Without Instagram
Decline of organic user engagement on Twitter due to fear, harassment, and rising content professionalization creating barriers to posting
TRANSCRIPT
You've been blogging a little bit. You mentioned at one point I assume you were there and saw it a deck that got passed around on Twitter Yeah pre Pre saying no one posting anymore The number of people posting is declining and declining and the theory was by 2030 if this trend continues there will be no new user-generated content. It was
... See moreBut the bigger loss of human agency comes from the billions of people that use these apps. These deep learning AIs are designed to maximize the time we all spend on these apps. While you are reading this memo, you are probably jonesing to switch over to Instagram or TikTok. It turns out when an app company doesn't care about content and asks an AI... See more
Jonah Peretti • The Anti-SNARF Manifesto
The news stories and journalism that break through aren’t the most important stories, but rather the stories that can be shaped into SNARF.
So, despite Sullivan’s claims to the contrary, the Internet has sucked for me in the last 10 years. Not only because I was forced to create content in a way that pleases their many rules, but because I have to compete with SEO-optimized garbage fuelled by people with deep pockets and desires for deep pockets.
However, this year, I regained more joy... See more
However, this year, I regained more joy... See more
Elizabeth TaiIn Essays • Is the Internet really broken?
SEO-optimized anything needs to go away. Ads are dead. What is the new model?