What the Web 1.0 geeks can teach us

At first, “extremely online” was a way of life, then it became a concept and later a trend about which several books were written. The newest book on the topic, authored by Taylor Lorenz, a technology columnist for The Washington Post, bears the fitting title Extremely Online.

The term emerged in 2014 to describe people deeply immersed in internet culture. They devoted most of their waking hours (and even some sleeping hours) to online activities and mostly talked about things happening online. They coined online slang and messaging abbreviations like IRL for the mundane things that happen “in real life.”

Ainhoa Marzol, who writes the Gárgola Digital newsletter, used to be very active online. When she was 16, she would spend at least 10 hours on the internet; nowadays, she barely spends one. She was obsessed with online forums and primarily interacted with people she met online. “All we knew was the internet, you know? We went from one weird forum to another even weirder one. My behavior seemed dark to my friends who still had a life outside, but we were self-referential, and we only represented a select group of connected people. We were the geeks who needed the internet as a refuge. And now, after the pandemic, being extremely online went mainstream,” she said.

Ten years later, those who grew up avoiding the mainstream have become adept at navigating the relentless barrage of internet platforms and algorithms. “We’re the ones who know how to escape the commercialization of online spaces,” said Marzol. For her, the internet’s downside is that it’s dominated by platforms aiming to profit from users. “They’ve always fought for our attention, but now it’s super obvious and blatant.” Approximately five billion internet users generate quintillions of bytes every day. Using pervasive and powerful algorithms, the web has become a vast oblivion where we navigate aimlessly, as time slips away.

The headline of an article by Charlie Warzel in The Atlantic captures a common sentiment of our time: “Nobody Knows What’s Happening Online Anymore.” Warzel puts forth two theories to explain this unease. The first is that the era of social media is coming to an end with no clear successor. The second theory suggests that artificial intelligence has inundated the internet with synthetic content, ultimately causing the demise of the old web.

Statistics indicate that our interactions and posts have significantly decreased. Nowadays, we tend to favor private messages instead of seeking likes from people we don’t know. Adam Mosseri, the president of Instagram, recognized the fact that users are now spending more time in DMs (Instagram direct messages). “Everything that’s shared with friends is heading in that direction. I mean, there are more videos and photos being shared in DM than in stories and feeds,” he said in a podcast last summer. This indicates that a significant portion of the visible content is monetized. It not only lacks spontaneity, freshness and fun, but also conceals ulterior motives. The level of distrust in this content is so high that tech consulting firm Gartner forecasts it will lose half its audience by 2025, and those who stay will reduce their interactions by 50%.

The extremely online of the Web 1.0 days now seem like true visionaries. Marzol, for example, doesn’t often use Google as a search engine: “It only produces results that are very obvious.” She only uses it for geography and map searches. Marzol just looks at X (formerly Twitter) to confirm news and events, and TikTok for information about trends. She believes that relying solely on platform algorithms confines people to the most basic web content, while the true gems often remain undiscovered.

Marzol has a method to bypass the algorithms. “Jump from account to account, from link to link, don’t just mindlessly scroll. Use bookmarks to easily return to the sites you enjoyed. Jot down the names of authors you find interesting and explore all their work, from articles to tweets. In a nutshell, instead of aimlessly surfing the internet, take control and reclaim your browsing experience. I have everything super organized now and I know exactly where to find what I’m looking for.” Marzol works in communications for the Minotauro and Planeta Cómic publishing houses, and says she only spends about an hour on the internet every day. One way to avoid the algorithm trip is by subscribing to newsletters, which come straight to your email inbox. They suggest sites without prioritizing monetization or optimization, and don’t employ any voracious algorithms.

In her much-cited “Navegar mejor” article (”Better Navigation,” in English) published in La Vanguardia, journalist Delia Rodríguez recommends conscious and deliberate navigation. “To stay well-informed, it’s important to make a conscious decision to seek knowledge and actively pursue it. Unfortunately, the technology industry has employed manipulative tactics to keep us hooked on mindless and unsatisfying browsing, while stifling innovative ideas to maintain control over our information consumption.” Rodríguez cites newsfeed tools like Google’s now defunct RSS reader and Nuzzel, which was bought by X and shut down.

“Make Internet Great Again” is more than a T-shirt slogan – it’s a movement that has been building for several years among people who want a more useful web. Sander van der Linden, a social psychology professor at the University of Cambridge, is one of those who want tools to disrupt the echo chambers of social networks, which only expose us to like-minded individuals. “Social media profits from anger and polarization. We must leverage behavioral science to build a platform that promotes unity instead of division,” he said. According to Tim Hwang, author of Subprime Attention Crisis, replacing internet advertising with subscriptions could be the answer. Hwang’s book describes the digital advertising bubble and explains why advertising dominates the internet, despite limited evidence of its effectiveness.

To restore trust in the internet, reconnect with intimate communities centered around individual interests. Reclaim a purposeful approach to online exploration by setting clear objectives and designated time for specific topics. Resist aimless wandering and embrace genuine human connections over algorithms.

Escaping the clutches of algorithms is no easy feat. However, those who have immersed themselves in the online world for years have a valuable skill – the ability to detect danger from afar and swiftly change course. Navigating the vast expanse of the internet is akin to entering a supermarket: go in with a full belly and a shopping list in hand.

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