[LoLFactor]

It's funny how so many people came here to complain about the state of the internet... on the internet. Maybe it's just me and I don't get it, but if you don't want to be on the internet anymore, just yank the ethernet cable out of your computer and cancel your plan. One less bill to pay, right?

Coming here to complain and not seeing the ridiculousness in it makes me think some of the people in this thread need to take a long look at themselves and ponder if they might, in fact, be part of a certain cohort that actually makes the internet a worse place to be.

Just my two cents. Feel free to downvote.

[re-actor]

For most people here, getting rid of the internet would also mean changing careers to one of the few remaining things you can do professionally without using the internet.

"You criticize thing yet you also use it, how curious" is such a banal take it's literally a meme.

[LoLFactor]

My apologies for the banality. The completely obvious truth that internet is a necessity in 2021 somehow escaped me... Or maybe it didn't and that was the whole point.

Given that these people are here, they are obviously engaging in internet usage that IS NOT part of their job (I've yet to see a job posting where reading HN is a requirement). Nobody is pushing anybody to use certain parts of the internet. Don't like some parts? Don't use them. Don't like any parts of it? Then yeah, yank the cable out and enjoy... or endure, whatever the case may be. Be it career or anything else that's stopping you from yanking the cable, well then... it might be that the internet isn't that bad. Not as bad as losing your job, anyway, so WHY COMPLAIN?

Using the internet strictly for utilitarian purposes is possible. Do that and then use the rest of your time to go out with your buddies. Don't have any? That might just be because (and this was my second point) you're a negative and possibly toxic person. The kind people don't want to be around and that MAKE THE INTERNET A LESS APPEALING PLACE.

Did I adequately rephrase my take to be less banal?

[re-actor]

Thanks your position is much more clear to me now.

Why the aversion to complaining? Sometimes things are bad and need changing, and sometimes all you can do is complain. There's a certain alure to saying "don't like it don't use it" and that being the end of it, but at the same time it doesn't acknowledge the fact that these concerns might be legitimate, and sure, something else can always be worse, but that doesn't really address the issues at hand.

The alternative to what the internet is now isn't no internet, change for the better is possible.

There are real structural issues with how the internet is de facto to most people, these are issues of power, governance and capital, turning your back on them doesn't make them go away. I understand why people can feel immense frustration at the current state of the internet (and perhaps the world in general) without making the drastic step to restructure their life around avoiding a utility most of the world runs on.

[LoLFactor]

I have a theory and why the internet is the way it is. It's because it's mainstream. It used to be "better" (as some would put it) because it was niche. Only the passionate and the interested were on it. Nowadays everybody and their grandma is on a social network... literally. Stands to reason the space would "devolve". Why? Because of what Carlin once said (paraphrasing): Imagine how stupid the average person is. Now realize half of the world is even dumber than that.

Most of the complaints here were basically about human behavior on the internet. If it were complaints about actual technical problems or engineering problems related to the internet, I'd get it. I mean, you could argue that Facebook being a walled garden is actually a structural problem of the internet, but really, it isn't. The internet hasn't fundamentally technically changed. You can reach content outside of those silos if you want and search for it (i.e. you're actually interested), but guess what? People don't want to leave that walled garden. They want stupid videos, recycled quotes and propaganda. Propaganda is soothing. Searching outside of your silo would run you the risk of finding conflicting opinions, or God forbid, conflicting evidence.

The internet is "worse" today then it was some years ago because more and more dumb, ignorant and uninterested people are on it. Which is to say the internet now more resembles the real world then it did long ago, when it more resembled a (somewhat) private club for more interested and passionate, educated people.

The way I see it, the world has always been full of dumb people who screw it up for everyone. The internet just makes it much easier to see.

So I don't have an aversion. I understand the frustration as well, I just find complaining about it risible. Given that complaining identifies the problem and nudges people towards a solution, how do you cure mediocrity and stupidity?

P.S. When you have a chance, check out "The basic laws of human stupidity" by Carlo M. Cipolla. It's a 15 minute read and well worth it. You'll get a better understanding of where I come from.

[CivBase]

I assume the complaints about "the internet" are mostly referring to the parts of the web people interact with most frequently, which would definitely not include HN comments. facebook.com alone probably serves more page requests in an hour than ycombinator.com does in a year.