Does the internet feel smaller to you?

[User 180565 is taking donation]

I was having this conversation with a buddy of mine it just feels like the internet is getting so much smaller, you have your big video site, shopping sites, and social .media sites, information etc... That's all it feels like it is anymore nothing as fun as it once was a few years ago it just feels so big yet less to really do with it except the same old stuff.

[bigballofyarn]

I feel like too many people are online. Too many people have phones, social media accounts, and think that their subjective opinions are laws. I miss the days when I could visit multiple sites, spanning unrelated topics, and somehow cross paths with the same people. Now, people can acquire fame on one platform and have no one hear of them on another.

Also, nothing seems special or unique anymore. There are hundreds, if not thousands of sites that do the same things in a fraction of a second.

If I'm honest, I miss flash games, Geocities, Excite chatrooms, and playing Lemonade Stand in Netscape Navigator.

[wildmaven]

Sept 23, 2022 15:42:55 GMT -8 bigballofyarn said:

Now, people can acquire fame on one platform and have no one hear of them on another.

A big reason is that platforms now require so much work just to become known that no one has time to do it on multiple platforms. I left Instagram because my reach plummeted once they started giving favoritism to reels and daily output. Even my followers couldn't see what I was posting.

[bigballofyarn]

Sept 25, 2022 7:49:54 GMT -8 wildmaven said:

Sept 23, 2022 15:42:55 GMT -8 bigballofyarn said:

Now, people can acquire fame on one platform and have no one hear of them on another.

A big reason is that platforms now require so much work just to become known that no one has time to do it on multiple platforms. I left Instagram because my reach plummeted once they started giving favoritism to reels and daily output. Even my followers couldn't see what I was posting.

That's very true. My feed is flooded with reels of tortoises, but not tortoises that I follow. I didn't realize it immediately, but there was a little "follow" link next to the reels, indicating that they weren't even friends.

[Derek‽]

Yes, the internet feels smaller to me, because I don't live on it like I used to. I'm not plugged into the BigNewThing like The Youth™ tend to be, and a lot of the sites I used to know are no longer around, have changed drastically, or I haven't visited them in so long that I've simply forgotten about them and omitted them from my routines. So my internet is smaller than it once was. Mentally, I still kind of picture the net as it was around 2010, but I know it's different.

The internet itself is bigger than ever, but the growth of the web has probably slowed down, likely a result of the internet being dominated by a limited number of massive platforms. Those are typically private or semi-private with content locked behind (free) user accounts. If you aren't on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, you aren't seeing much these days. And if you're on those platforms, you're probably not straying very far, so you won't see much outside of their walled gardens.

[Ayen]

Not really. If anything it seems bigger. I just don't have the time to navigate it all anymore.

[Darkmage4]

Sept 23, 2022 15:42:55 GMT -8 bigballofyarn said:

I feel like too many people are online. Too many people have phones, social media accounts, and think that their subjective opinions are laws. I miss the days when I could visit multiple sites, spanning unrelated topics, and somehow cross paths with the same people. Now, people can acquire fame on one platform and have no one hear of them on another.

Also, nothing seems special or unique anymore. There are hundreds, if not thousands of sites that do the same things in a fraction of a second.

If I'm honest, I miss flash games, Geocities, Excite chatrooms, and playing Lemonade Stand in Netscape Navigator.

I loved Geocities! First time I made my own website! It was fun and the WYSIWYG editor was awesome. Just place and drop. Lol.


To the OP question: The internet doesn't feel small to me. It's just because we're contained into the big socials. Facebook, Twitter, youtube, twitch, and now TikTok.

Since we have access to them 24/7. That's what we all check out in sequence every day. Instead of getting on thr computer, loading up your forums, going to MySpace, and YouTube, yahoo messenger, AIM. YIM, MSN Messenger, Skype, and a few other messaging services.

I feel like it's so much bigger though in terms of websites, we have Justin TV back then. But I felt like there were a lot of weird people on there doing stuff. Then it switched to Twitch, and here we are today.

It seems like it's actually 10x bigger than it was 10-20 years ago really. Just less messengers.

[Caajscot (John)]

I don't think it has got smaller but bigger, there are a lot of things you can do today on the net that you could not do when it first opened.

I always pay my bills due every month via the (secure) net that which has now become a habit, then I also have Facebook and a few other sites I visit regularly which I have on my bookmark bar above and naturally this site lol and thinking of it ProBoard's is the longest application I have on here since I first started visiting forums on the net on a regular basis.

[codybrannon]

Sept 25, 2022 7:49:54 GMT -8 wildmaven said:

Sept 23, 2022 15:42:55 GMT -8 bigballofyarn said:

Now, people can acquire fame on one platform and have no one hear of them on another.

A big reason is that platforms now require so much work just to become known that no one has time to do it on multiple platforms. I left Instagram because my reach plummeted once they started giving favoritism to reels and daily output. Even my followers couldn't see what I was posting.

Instagram is a pain for me, as I am a musician and all the staff needs to be promoted on Insta too as it brings you new listeners and more tickets for your next show sold. But your listeners don`t really need your everyday post, they need to know, that you are preparing, they need to see some exclusive content and they need to see the promo of a concert. 3 videos, 5 photos, 3 pictures per month and it is a big work, you know! I would throw Insta into the trash can, but nowadays most of our listeners are there, in the greatest SEO hole of the internet!

[stardust]

yes. the internet feels much smaller. it feels like there's too many things out there and nothing is truly unique anymore. the internet just has a much different feel to it than it did when i was growing up.

[Matthew]

The old internet is dead. I love that ProBoards is still around though. Everything is apps these days. *runs away and hides on Discord*

[Chani]

It feels like there are less places but more faces to me. A lot more people, just all crammed into a handful of websites. 

[Assembly Boards Representative]

The truth is likely that the internet has always remain a shrinking and growing thing that averages out to be the same size throughout its history. The illusion that it is smaller maybe due to people's focus narrowing down to just a few big time websites that cater to their online needs while the more smaller and unique ones tend to only serve those who venture out of the confines of the larger metropolitan areas of the web. Sadly, you also have plenty of people who migrated from such smaller communities such as message boards. Then they migrate to the next trendy spot to socialize. Probably why Facebook feels the need to secure their place by acquiring any new platforms that threatens it (e.g. Instagram). Though honestly, the problems of cyber-security were likely only enhanced by Facebook's mission to get people to share personal information publicly. Where as before, getting to know someone meant getting to know a moniker that reflects upon them, leading to more cautious behavior due to the anonymity of it all.

[Linette]

It's a little smaller than it normally was moons ago, here in Canada anyway. Laws and rules to the web world got stiffer and there's a lot more people attracted to the dark web now a days. A lot of the places I knew of have either disappeared of the web completely or upgraded to something better and some sites were taken over by a new owner and ruined to no avail making people hightail it to something better.

I think for many reasons may seem small to some while much bigger to others, it all depends on that person and where you live. Things have changed as well as some people just hate change and some adapt very well to change.

[User 180565 is taking donation]

Feb 27, 2023 8:46:00 GMT -8 Linette said:

It's a little smaller than it normally was moons ago, here in Canada anyway. Laws and rules to the web world got stiffer and there's a lot more people attracted to the dark web now a days. A lot of the places I knew of have either disappeared of the web completely or upgraded to something better and some sites were taken over by a new owner and ruined to no avail making people hightail it to something better.

I think for many reasons may seem small to some while much bigger to others, it all depends on that person and where you live. Things have changed as well as some people just hate change and some adapt very well to change.

Exactly how I feel, myspace back in the day was such a fun way to customize your profile and express yourself now since Facebook basically took over it's just who has the larger following. Some with YouTube I feel like most people focus on social media, YouTube, maybe a few reddits and that's about it. As the internet gets larger it just feels like the only thing useful are a handful of websites everyone checks out. For smaller buissnes it's hard to trust their legitimacy so you have to pretty much stick with what's well known. I guess that's just how life is now. Take a gamble on smaller things such as mass produce cheap objects you get what you get but I've actually ordered cheap stuff that turns out to be pretty useful. The internet is just social media, news and videos anymore nothing really out there that catches me eyes and think I want to really get into it.