A vague dread grips you. Why is everything a little bit different now? The smallest details are wrong. Your favorite posters have vanished from all platforms. There haven’t been any new memes for some time, only recycled iterations of old ones. Influencers are coordinated in their talking points like puppets being pulled by the same strings. Your favorite niche YouTuber has only recently been posting new content with any regularity. Is this a message? Is this what schizophrenia is like?
internet
Are We Watching The Internet Die?
wheresyoured.atWe’re at the end of a vast, multi-faceted con of internet users, where ultra-rich technologists tricked their customers into building their companies for free. And while the trade once seemed fair, it’s become apparent that these executives see users not as willing participants in some sort of fair exchange, but as veins of data to be exploitatively mined as many times as possible, given nothing in return other than access to a platform that may or may not work properly.
Yet what’s happening to the web is far more sinister than simple greed, but the destruction of the user-generated internet, where executives think they’ve found a way to replace human beings making cool things with generative monstrosities trained on datasets controlled and monetized by trillion-dollar firms.
Their ideal situation isn’t one where you visit distinct websites with content created by human beings, but a return to the dark ages of the internet where most traffic ran through a series of heavily-curated portals operated by a few select companies, with results generated based on datasets that are increasingly poisoned by generative content built to fill space rather than be consumed by a customer.
DONOTREPLY.CARDS
donotreply.cardsReply Stickers
flickr.com
Inclusive Components
inclusive-components.designA blog trying to be a pattern library. All about designing inclusive web interfaces, piece by piece.
12 Modern CSS One-Line Upgrades
moderncss.devAn Interactive Guide to CSS Grid
joshwcomeau.comThe tyranny of the algorithm: why every coffee shop looks the same
theguardian.comThese cafes had all adopted similar aesthetics and offered similar menus, but they hadn’t been forced to do so by a corporate parent, the way a chain like Starbucks replicated itself. Instead, despite their vast geographical separation and total independence from each other, the cafes had all drifted toward the same end point. The sheer expanse of sameness was too shocking and new to be boring.
ViewStats
viewstats.comMrBeast’s analytics platform ViewStats is out in beta
The 88×31 GIF Collection
cyber.dabamos.deA collection of 4210 classic 88×31 buttons from the 1990s, 2000s, and today in GIF format.
The Psychopathology of Digital Life
discoursemagazine.comThe digital experience has wreaked untold damage, especially upon the young. But all is not lost.