The internet is broken.
It's increasingly becoming clear as the afterglow of 90s cyberoptimism wanes that the internet is no longer what was once promised. What should have been an immense wealth of information built by the people, for the people has metamorphosed into a one-way stream of highly curated information, controlled by a tiny fraction of the world's corporations. Our data is being fed into algorithms for social platforms that act as Skinner boxes, leaving us completely at the whim of whatever these corporations want us to see, hear and think. Moreover, most of these websites are poorly designed from an end-user's perspective. Ads and algorithmically generated content always take visual precedence over the information you are seeking, and websites are becoming slower as internet speeds become quicker. How is it that the internet got to this point?
I identify three key problems with the modern internet:
1. The internet is too centralised.
This happened once the internet superseded television and other traditional forms of media as the public's primary source of information. Now the top 1% of websites account for 99% of internet traffic and can form public opinions at the drop of a hat. For governments and corporations, it was necessary that the internet became this way to maintain status quos and to make the internet profitable.
2. The internet is bloated.
Picture this: you search for a recipe on Google and click the first link. The header takes up a third of the screen. An unrelated video autoplays. Pop-ups asking to accept cookies. A paywall. You must scroll a whole screen length and a half just to see the ingredients list. Utter chaos. It was this exact problem that inspired Luke Smith to create the site based.cooking.
3. The internet is sterile and impersonal.
Whilst this may only be an issue of aesthetics, it is probably the most apparent side-effect of the first two points. It's harder than ever to express yourself on the internet. Gone are the days of endless personal homepages filled with janky CSS and glitter GIFs. Now everyone is given identical profiles with limited scope. This is all compounded by algorithms that only promote a very narrow field of desirable content.
Having said all this, it is clear the ideal internet is one that is decentralised (running on federated, P2P networks where possible), Bloat free (ideally following the principles of the FOSS movement and similar philosophies), and a highly customisable, personalised platform where everyone can share ideas.
So, what's the solution?
Should we all start running gopherholes and Gemini capsules over Tor and I2P? Do we abandon the infrastructure entirely and start communicating over packet radio and IPoAC? Probably not. As it happens, things don't have to be so absurd. The modern web stack has all the tools in place to make this elusive ideal web a reality. So how do we do it?
Start by making your own website.
By limiting or eliminating your social media presence, and substituting it with a personal website, you are actively doing your part to solve the problems I list above.
Firstly, by having your own website you can put forward whatever information you want in whatever format you want. Even better, you can buy your own domain name and VPS for what amounts to a pint a month (in Australia at least). Once you have your own server you don't have to stop at a website either. Host your own email, PeerTube, Searx instance, IRC server, you name it. You can be well on your way to eliminating your dependence on any third party. If everyone hosted their own website, over-centralisation of the internet and its consequences would be a complete nonissue.
Secondly, you only need the bare minimum knowledge of HTML and CSS to make a clean, to-the-point website. This can be learned in under an hour from an abundance of free tutorials online and having those skills will make you a better computer user in general. It's easier to create a good website than web developers will let on. In fact, it is downright counter-intuitive the way some modern websites are designed. Will a megabyte of Javascript that animates buttons really enrich your users' experience? Save us all the hassle and write your website like its 1997!
Finally, you can make your website look however you want. You can post whatever you want. You can organise it however you want. Take a minute to scroll through some of the other sites hosted on Neocities. It really is a beautiful thing seeing so many unique personalities and thoughts that would otherwise be lost in the monotony of social media. Combine this with classical web infrastructure like webrings, guestbooks, RSS feeds, and 88x31 banners, and you can functionally replace social media altogether. Not to mention, hyperlinks, hyperlinks, hyperlinks. Possibly the most important development in the delivery of information since Gutenberg's printing press; liberal use of them will streamline your web experience, keeping immediately relevant information only a click away.
In conclusion,
I made my website because I want to do my part in making the web a better place. You should strongly consider doing so yourself as it has never been easier and it's extremely empowering to have your own platform. Not only that, but the skills you pick up are highly transferable and will make you a better computer user all-round, all this whilst making the malpractices of the tech giants unprofitable and impractical. You can only win.
If by now you a ready to make your own website Luke Smith has another very good site that neatly collates all the steps into one place called landchad.net. If it wasn't already clear, I'm a big fan of his work and I suggest you check his other stuff out if this and similar topics interests you.
Written by Cameron CassellsPublished 15 Sep 2021
