Dead Internet Theory #2

Have you noticed how much worse the internet has gotten over the last few years? What was once the shining star guiding humanity's future has collapsed into a reality-wiping black hole.

Plenty of ink has been spilled describing the transformations that've taken place. Some outlets have tackled the abstract ramifications associated with a dying 'fake' web ruled by bots. Many more are dedicating column inches to the effects of AI, both logistically and physically. Yet very few focus on the most critical part: how our past is being jettisoned into oblivion.

Image courtesy of Elimende Inagella

Once you're aware of it, it's kind of difficult to miss. Google -- which was once so effective it became the genericized term for search engines -- is now synonymous with frustration for a lot of folks. According to Mashable, pros claim "a torrent of low-quality content... keeps drowning any kind of useful information in search results." This SEO spam surely deserves a chunk of the blame; but fails to address internal choices to prioritize AI overviews and sponsored ads.

Things are eerily similar in the social media sphere. Twitter's search tool went off a cliff around the time the company rebranded itself as X. Before then, it was quite easy to unearth an old tweet armed with only an account handle and a single word. These days, tracking down that same missive might return a bunch of useless gobbledygook or a "no results" screen.

Rumor has it Musk authorized the shift to cut storage costs. Such a decision matches the policies of other online "freemium" firms. If a user's site goes through a period of inactivity -- even as short as a month -- that account can be rendered invisible or outright deleted. In fairness, the providers lay out these scenarios in their terms of service... aka the legalese 99% of us skim/skip. [Besides, tech titans shouldn't be obligated to bleed cash for the sake of preservation.] Of course, that won't dull the sting felt when learning hours of work have vanished into the ether. *

The situations discussed above are clearly demoralizing on the individual level. That said, have you ever pondered the civilizational impact of millions of these debacles? It's not solely that the digital experience has been degraded; information is being lost permanently. Whether it's a seemingly trivial motorcycle review or a revolutionary approach to curing Alzheimer's almost doesn't matter. The internet is purging the past. In essence, e-books are being burned.

As far as solutions go, there's no perfect answer. Drawing attention to these pitfalls will help... especially when paired with purveyor suggestions limited to those who don't erase. Still, there's no guarantee benign protocols in force today won't change tomorrow.

Apparently, the best we can do is to slingshot around the void. While it's inevitable that a percentage of our history will dematerialize during this maneuver, significant chunks will survive. Once free of the gravitational pull, we'll be able to confront the final frontier: rewritten history. **

Note: the post above may contain commentary reflecting the author's opinion.

* I found out about freemium fragility the hard way. During the pandemic, I attempted to maintain an anonymous running log of reasons readers should be wary of the mandates being pushed on the populace. Looking back at the project as a whole, I'd describe it as a combination of comprehensive and prescient. It would be nice to be able to prove my accuracy with a timestamped link; alas, that's no longer possible. The sites were nuked in 2024. [Advance notice was given via email. I just missed it.] Thankfully, I had previously printed each page out. While I'll never be able to manifest the images that backed up my assertions, I can at least recreate the text on this site. The effort will be painstaking, but ultimately worth it. You can follow my endeavor here.

** Including its kissing cousin known as stealth editing.