The Internet Feels Small

I don’t think it was always like this, but I can’t quite put my finger on when it changed. Maybe it was a frog-in-the-pot situation and we’re well and truly cooked. It occurred to me today as I was killing time between meetings. The same websites, the same narratives. IDPOL, skewed political takes, insidious advertisements, and a smattering of pop culture and current events. Reddit, TikTok, Insta. The news channel echo chamber of your choosing. It just feels like there’s nothing much out there anymore. I wonder if I’m romanticizing the past. I remember when StumbleUpon came out. I was in high school. The early 2000s internet had all kinds of random shit. People playing with design, sharing their passions. It really felt genuine. Perhaps this small web movement is a callback to those years. I think people crave the simplicity and the novelty of a web long dead. As it stands, I often find myself staring at the screen, wondering why I’ve refreshed Reddit for the umpteenth time today,…