thoughts on the current state of the web
the internet as we know it today has become increasingly corporate and sanitized.
i don’t think that’s a controversial statement to make by any means. most people are fully aware of this, even if they wouldn’t know how to put it into words. ads have become more and more pervasive over the years. websites and their UIs look more similar to each other with each passing year. cookies track us all, no matter what you do. our data is given a price tag and sold to the highest bidder.
in this current state of the web, it can be easy to lose hope and think that the old internet we used to know is gone forever. but this is not the case. small pockets of the internet still persist: tildes, the indie web, fediverse groups, independent artist blogs… the list goes on. while personal websites may not be nearly as common as they were in the past, they’re still here, and will go nowhere. furthermore, many old sites that were taken down can be accessed via the internet archive’s incredible wayback machine.
i’m sure anyone reading this will probably already know all of this. but i feel like it’s worthwhile to write my thoughts down. if i can help even one person learn of a new resource, writing this was worth it.
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