I've seen other people say things like "the internet sucks in 2018"

On the one hand: The quantity and quality of "stuff" I can find online right now is ABSOLUTELY FUCKING AMAZING. I can find TV shows, music, books, essays, news, commentary, games, etc., out the yazoo. Especially if I have no qualms about piracy, in which case I can find almost any book, tv show, or movie I would ever care about, to read, watch or listen to.

On the other hand: while it's still "fun" in a sense, it's definitely not the same kind of fun as it was maybe 20 years ago. And I'd say in some ways it's less fun overall.

Sounds contradictory, no? I was just thinking about this a week or so ago, and trying to figure out what is missing on the 'net today vs. 20 years ago when it felt more "fun" somehow. I don't have an exact answer, but I think I can explain some of it. Here are some thoughts on what is different now that makes things less fun.

1. Everything is indexed and searchable, and you know where to find most stuff, which takes away the sense of mystery and the experience of serendipitous discovery that were big in the past. In years past you dialed into a BBS and browsed the "filez" section and had NO idea what you were gonna find. And the gems you found, like the first time you found an issue of Phrack or the Cult of the Dead Cow newsletter, or a list of dial up numbers for Telenet or something, would just blow your mind and fill you with this sense of awe. Now, you just Google whatever you want, or go to Wikipedia, or IMDB, or whatever, and find everything "on demand".

2. There is mostly no sense of "going online" at all now, because most of us are online all the time anyway. In years past, "going online" was a discrete, specific activity. You dialed up your ISP, connected, browsed for an hour or two, and dropped off. Now, we have broadband at home, broadband at work, broadband at Starbucks, at the airport, on the airplane, etc., and have 4G connections we carry around in our pockets. So "being online" has kinda become the default state now.

3. The "paradox of choice"[1]. There is SO MUCH great content on the web now, that no matter what you are looking at, reading, watching, or listening to, part of your brain is wondering "why aren't I (watching|listening to|reading|etc) this other thing X?" at the same time. You're on Netflix, and a background thread is wanting be on pg's site reading his essays. You're reading pg essays, and a background thread is wanting to be on Youtube watching the "Greatest fake punts in NFL history" video, etc., etc. yadda, yadda.

4. And, again, just familiarity... chat rooms were awesome when chat rooms were new, and different. Eventually everybody had so many chat rooms open that lurking and not posting became the default and now there are IRC channels or Slack channels with hundreds of people in there, and nobody ever says anything.

5. The Eternal September[2] effect. Forums and chat-rooms get diluted and watered down over time as too many newbies join and the culture devolves towards a lowest common denominator.

All of that said, am I still blown away by things like 3blue1brown videos, or khanacademy.org, or "The Haunting of Hill House" (Netflix), and many other things I experience online? Hell yeah. But I simultaneously find myself feeling sad like I've lost something of the joy I used to find in doing this stuff.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what it would take to recapture some of that old magic, but I can't claim to have any good answers so far. And frankly, at least for me personally, it may be that some of what I feel is more about changes in myself over the past 20+ years, than anything else. I mean, I'm not exactly the same person I was in 1999, no matter how much I hate to admit that. My tastes and interests have changed, I've learned stuff, forgotten stuff, experienced stuff, yadda yadda, so maybe it's no surprise that the 'net doesn't feel like it did then.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paradox_of_Choice

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September