Do we really want the new internet? Let’s just chill here for a bit.
So, I’ve been reading around here, and there’s really so much interesting stuff going on, I’m all agog! It feels surreal, but on this platform specifically, a pretty high amount of anonymity has led to humanity and authenticity seeping through the pages of everything I read, what a pleasure.
We all know what we’re trying to escape here. The never-ending, performative rot that, without fail, leaves you feeling ODD every time and adds nothing of value.
And honestly, 😉
We’re so real for wanting something better than that.
No, but seriously, I don’t even necessarily want to have the “old” internet back or to immediately create a “new” one. I don’t think doing it right now, right away, would be such a great idea. Hear me out:
When was the last time anything (an idea, concept, movement…) maintained its qualities, let alone became better once adopted by a critical mass? I for sure can’t right off the top of my head think of an example for something like that. I don’t want to argue that that’s impossible. That would be just bad empirical manners. But my theory is that it’s hard! And that we for sure need a breather to just not rush into anything new. It’s the same idea of just existing, of just letting yourself be, for once, without any goal or possible tweaks in mind. To sit somewhere outside, in the garden, in nature, or, in our digital sense, here on bear and just “look” at each other. Not at what we might be conditioned to think to want and as a consequence to perform on traditional social media outlets, but just…kinda really hear each other out.
We’ve just survived a battle, and we’re bleeding, it seems. But we’re here. We’re safe.
So rest, soldiers, rest. Let us have that precious rest before it’s time to draw our weapons again.
Also, perhaps it’s a given feature of ours that we just can’t cultivate more than n meaningful connections, so that every attempt at connecting the entire world with itself is doomed to converge towards algorithmic prisons that don’t serve us.