Curious Carrot2d ago
Simon B. Støvring

The internet has changed. Not for the better.

A big part of it used to be linking between sites. Ideas and information connected. Now the biggest platforms downrank anything that sends you away.

Headlines used to inform. Now they’re just clickbait.

It used to feel like a place for human creativity and shared knowledge. Now it’s increasingly just computer generated content.

Feels like we’ve engineered ourselves into a corner where the internet is no longer the information hub we need.

Apr 1 at 5:55pmIvory for iOS
Show threadHelge Heß2d ago
@simonbs We still have blogs which are still kinda like that, though I suppose they are getting killed by AI (but for unrelated reasons).
Show threadCharles J Gervasi ⚡🛡️🥥2d ago
@simonbs Maybe it's a victim of its own success. The Internet is still there, but there's so much more crap on it.
Show threadMark Levison2d ago
I still link out. I also cite with some rigour.
Show threadwhy not wy2d ago
@simonbs Gotta be honest, the minute they started talking about shopping on the internet, I knew it was all downhill from there. And that was in, what, 1993?
Show threadJeremy Knope1d ago
@simonbs the old style stuff is still lingering in the corners. I keep meaning to maybe start my own blog again and try to participate in the smallweb/indieweb scene.
Show threadJustin Scholz1d ago
@simonbs sentiment reminds me of https://www.anildash.com/2026/03/27/endgame-open-web/
Endgame for the Open Web

A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

Anil Dash
Show threadSteve Barnes1d ago

@simonbs –

(I'll take this to mean the Web.)

Even as a teenager, I was aware no one needed permission to exist on it, implying such a home of cleverness, community, benevolence and value would garner lies, ill will, delusion and clumsy thinking – that was, it seemed, the preparatory mindset with which anyone should enter it. So I take this "change" as an affirmation the Web has *not* changed in that most important way.

Show threadSteve Barnes1d ago

@simonbs –

This recent trend of laws forbidding teenagers, even superseding the wishes of their parents, from using some sites to communicate with each other; that kind of thing strikes me as change that's not for the better.

Show threadChristian Tietze1d ago

@simonbs blogging never stopped

By sheer popularity, the mainstream approach is different, so it's fair to say that "the internet has changed" in aggregate

But we can easily recreate corners for communities like this again

Show threadSimon B. Støvring1d ago

@ctietze Blogging is there but no popular channels will promote your content unless you extremely cleverly game their algorithm, ideally putting money down too.

I get that I’m pessimistic but sinding see how we can “easily” recreate that again.

But hey — I’d be happy to be wrong here 😃

Show threadChristian Tietze21h ago

@simonbs I know it's bleak, but we are all the hope we have, so! :)

would you love to be part of a Swift dev carnival? I started one for Emacs and it's going great. :)

Show threadMindaugas Rudokas14h ago

@simonbs @ctietze Why “popular channels” should work for your interests? They exist to make profit. That’s natural.

The recent exp growth of the littering of the info space is a challenge though. But it also should be an incentive for efforts/experiments/systems/businesses for curation/moderation/filtering/discovery.

Show threadobrhoff1d ago

@simonbs This reminds me how many gaps are now on the internet.

Try to find genuine restaurant recommendations that are not manipulated? Nope. Try to find a place where Meetups are happening? Good Luck.

Loniness Epidemic happening while beeing “connected” to everyone.

Show threadwojtek1d ago

RE: https://mastodon.social/@simonbs/116330733773830334

@simonbs mildly annoyed where it's sometimes impossible two share a link two something two the platform from within the platform / app (and it HAS TO include tracking link=,=)

Show threadJiri Rybar18h ago
@simonbs Not ourselves. The big tech has done this.