what do you think of when you hear the word "internet"? you might be thinking of sites like twitter, tumblr...big social media sites in general.
that's what most people think when they think of the internet, and while its definition is different for everybody, it is mostly associated with what is called the modern web. it is disheartening to see. it is soul-crushing to see that people associate the internet with a constant stream of content, endless scrolling, timelines, bland web design, and consumption.
nowadays, the internet is all about selling and creating content. websites spy on you and track you in order to create a specific profile, so it's easier for advertisers to...well, advertise to you, based on what the websites assume are your likes and dislikes. ads are shoe-horned into the timeline, and most sites are so ludicrously designed so that you have to click a fuckton of menus (and submenus) to get to the page you wanted to visit. this is intentional, by the way - it's to keep you on a site for a longer period of time so they can collect more data on you.
what's that? you want to scroll through twitter without making an account? too fucking bad, it won't let you continue until you sign up. most web sites do this, actually, and while there are wonderful frontends for the big guys such as twitter, reddit, and that stupid clock app i refuse to utter the name of, if you want to browse a site where registration is an option, you gotta sign up for it.
and once you start using these services, you can get really sucked into it, effectively becoming a consumer as time goes by. this brings us to:
well-
first of all, the constant stream of content prominent on the larger services is mostly made up of short text posts or videos. this has absolutely fucking DESTROYED the attention spans of many users. we all like to joke about it, but it's true. because virtually everything is now condensed to fit into a smaller character limit or a 30-60 second clip, once you begin to excessively engage with such content, it is nearly impossible to watch or pay attention to anything longer than that. it is designed to be that way. it's designed to be addicting.
the use of relative timestamps (3h ago instead of 12:46 P.M.) does not help with that either. they create immediacy; they create a sense of "don't worry, you're not missing out on anything". but, relative timestamps also make everything feel time-sensitive, which only adds to the addictiveness of the modern web.
another horrible feature is infinite scrolling. this allows the user to endlessly keep scrolling, and this often happens subconsciously and compulsively. it also adds to the fear of missing out that relative timestamps create, in which the user keeps using the service for hours at a time while the service keeps collecting data on them to profit off of.
people love to joke about fake internet points, but in reality, they play a big part in making sites addicting. upvotes, likes, retweets are all examples of fake internet points, as they all increment by one whenever people click the buttons/icons corresponding to the respective actions. it is always clear which posts gain the most appreciation based on the like/dislike ratio - and if the site doesn't allow for dislikes, that can still be observed by how many likes each individual post gets. i'd say twitter is one of the biggest offenders here, ever since the quote tweeting feature began to add to the retweet count. this can give people the illusion that a post has amassed, say, 2k retweets, but when they actually click on the tweet, it is revealed that more than half of those "retweets" are actually quote tweets.
of course, i have to delve into the web design. you go to 5 different sites and feel like you've just spent 3 minutes on the same site. that white background, those light gray accents, same 3 or 4 icons. it's far too familiar to you now. if you're lucky, you might even get a background image, but it's just another stock photo, so it doesn't really matter. that same fucking wordpress-esque template...it makes me sick, honestly.
and don't even get me started on user profiles. those have lost all customisation options that made them unique. "layouts" are now just reduced to headers and profile pictures. nothing memorable, unique or distinctive about it.
[this page is incomplete. it is under construction.]