new internet

Users are leaving X, the most divisive and shouty social media platform, and it’s unlikely that alternatives like Bluesky will replace it. The era when arguing about politics on social media was America’s national pastime may be drawing to a close, with public discussions replaced by small group chats. With the decline of public argument platforms... See more

🚨This is the trap that social media, and by extension all of us, are in:

📈Toxicity drives use. Lowering toxicity drops ad sales (if you are ad supported) & engagement (even if you are not)

📉Toxicity spreads like a disease. It turns regular users toxic & makes networks awful

About this Class #

There are two meanings of internet:

• the infrastructure that connects computing devices,


• or the ecosystem of applications built on that infrastructure.

When the average person says “internet” they usually refer to the second definition. This class, on the other hand, explores the first.

In the early days of the internet, one of the first search engines, Yahoo!, hired “surfers,” people with particularly niche interests, to record and catalog new websites by hand. In those days, each site was crafted by hand by a person. Each site had a face you could see, and if desired, email.

Exploring the internet together should be like exploring a vast old library with your friends. Wandering down different shelves, skimming the pages that catch your eye, and occasionally one of you hollers in a whispering voice, "come check this out!"