[moshmosh]

I maintain that most of what we get from the Web and computers, as individuals, is barely better than what we had before, and not enough so to justify its costs. Shopping very much included.

For some context, I grew up very much "OMG wire my brain in, let's get this future shit going!" Years of watching that future develop, and some reflection, have almost entirely reversed that sentiment, for me.

For example: are streaming services convenient? Yeah, of course. Am I actually happier with them than I was with the library, rentals, and the occasional purchased movie? Marginally, if at all. (but I have Internet service for the handful of things it actually is highly beneficial for, so, may as well use streaming, too)

Is shopping online convenient? Yes. Am I happier than when I just had way less idea what was available to buy, and there was more friction to indulging every little purchase-whim? I really wonder. This one may not just be marginally better, but net-harmful.

[idiotsecant]

I can consume an order of magnitude more diverse and interesting media than I could without the internet. I can order exactly the right thing from the internet instead of making do with a kind-of solution from the store.

I think you're remembering what it was like pre-internet with rose-colored glasses.

The internet is great.

[moshmosh]

We definitely have more of everything data-related and have a much better idea of all the stuff we can buy. I'm skeptical how far that's actually moved the happiness and life-satisfaction needles, in general.

[EDIT] specifically, I think some of our "satisfaction" from this sort of consumption is itch-scratching generated by the possibility of doing it, in the same way that pre-Internet one rarely felt bothered by not knowing some piece of trivia, if no-one around happened to know either. Now it itches until someone looks it up, because you know you can find out quickly. Now if I'm not watching the best possible thing, for example, it itches, but I don't think it would have before. I think to some extent the level of choice available, aside from famously causing analysis-paralysis ("browsing Netflix" is famously an activity all its own, that may or may not end up in ever actually watching anything) also generates the very desire that it's satiating. I'm not sure I was actually less happy watching the best thing I could find at the video store, versus the best thing I can find on streaming services.

[idiotsecant]

I don't know about you, but for me having access to youtube means that I can do things like fix my car, learn about medieval hats, see what kinds of weird animals exist, etc.

These sorts of things improve my life immeasurably and definitely give me a sense of 'satisfaction' that I would not otherwise have been able to achieve paying someone to fix my car, watching a reality show on TLC, or going to the library and reading a book about ducks for the 50th time.

[necovek]

If you were wearing a size 13 (EU 48) shoes, walking into a store and asking for what they have in your size was exclusively met with "but which do you like". It turns out none of the top 10 choices I asked about would be available, and we'd eventually retreat to "which do you have that I dislike the least?"

With online shopping, I think the biggest wins are for anyone not being in the "common" category (be it the 5-95% size, fashion, usefulness etc): if what you generally need is suitably common, you might miss the physical shopping (try-ons/try-outs for wearables/tools are very useful).

This also means that there is more incentive for non-common products to be produced because the market is larger.

[nexuist]

Your problem isn't the Internet, it's the lack of trust busting in the tech space that prevents e.g. Disney from being able to launch its own streaming service or Amazon from promoting its own Basics products. The reason why everything sucks is because big players have zero incentive to change when they aren't punished for favoring themselves. Instagram doesn't even allow you to copy and paste photos anymore.