The Internet is Changing (Us)
Photo by Leon Seibert on Unsplash
I’ve tried to write this blog post multiple times.
Each time, I’ve dialed back and pressed pause because I got to 1000 words with no end to the topic in sight. Sometimes I was ranting a bit, writing out ideas and frustrations fueled by numerous YouTube videos and news articles I’ve seen on this subject. But finally, here are some complete thoughts.
The internet is changing, and it’s changing humanity along the way.
Now, the nature of the internet has always been to grow and evolve. That’s not new or profound. I think what’s truly profound is the speed at which things are currently changing, and the fact that no one really knows what the near future holds for this world-sized tool.
The curve on the graph is becoming increasingly exponential, and everyone is rushing to catch up. This open-top sports car is in a full-speed drag race, knocking our noggins into our headrests and blowing turbulence into our faces.
As a person who remembers the days of dialup and now relies on high-speed internet to make a living, I’m not sure how to respond to the evolution of the Web. I have ambitions to create things to put on the internet, but I don’t want to be part of its more problematic aspects.
Let’s rewind for a moment, though, and take a brief look at the history of this thing.
The internet (specifically, the World Wide Web) has existed in some form since 1989, the same year the Berlin Wall fell. But around the turn of the century, it really started evolving along with growing internet companies. It’s ironic: the Y2K scare was part of the beginning of the internet as we know it today.
As an example, let’s look at Google (est. 1998).
Google was once a search engine like any other. You’d type in search terms and get a list of website results. But the leaders of the company quickly realized that if they wanted to succeed, they would have to stand out.
9/11 gave them one of many chances to do so. People across the world wanted to get the most recent news on the fallout from the terror attacks, and they used search engines to find that news. So Google rolled out a “News” tab on their search engine that allowed users to find the latest articles on this catastrophe and its aftermath. Other features followed soon after, and ad-space became a significant portion of the first results page.
YouTube was launched as a simple video-sharing site in 2005, and Google bought it in 2006. Email became widely adopted, and AOL Instant Messenger made online instant communication commonplace. Then MySpace, Friendster, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms launched, along with smartphones capable of accessing the internet at high speeds.
My high school had classes that taught kids how to create their own websites. These days, anybody can create a website in a matter of minutes or hours using a number of different tools, no coding necessary (this website wouldn’t exist without one such tool). Also, people can now build careers out of making and posting videos to YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram—an idea that was revolutionary when I was in college.
And now, nobody can escape the topic of artificial intelligence. The demand for it, expressed in massive spending plans by major corporations (like Google), is currently—according to many economic experts—almost single-handedly preventing a significant economic recession in America. Though, of course, it really depends on how you define “recession”; wage stagnation, stagflation/shrinkflation, mass layoffs, and increased food and housing insecurity are all too persistent.
We’re experiencing a massive culture shift because of the internet. We probably won’t fully understand the long-term effects of this era for a long time. The internet has changed a lot of things for the better and for the worse. Access to information is more open and available than ever, and instant communication connects us as never before. But its positive power is tempered by the equally easy spread of misinformation and overly addictive entertainment.
I’m not going to bemoan the state of the internet or argue Dead Internet Theory in this post, though. Plenty of other people (and bots, probably) are already doing that. I want to focus on humanity and hope: how can we hold onto our identity as human beings when it often seems like the negative aspects of the internet are damaging our very souls?
(Side note: if this blog post seems like it’s repeating similar themes from my previous posts, you’re probably right—I’m using this blog to put my long-term contemplations on technology and culture into words.)
We can’t “escape” the internet. It’s so tightly woven into the fabric of our society now that doing so is nearly impossible unless you decide to somehow separate yourself from modern society. So how do we reconcile our humanity and our rapidly changing internet use?
I can’t provide a definitive answer in this post. I don’t think I even have a definitive answer. The one idea I do have comes from another question and an example.
The question: what does it mean to be human?
The example: Mister Rogers.
People of all faiths and backgrounds debate what it means to be human on a regular basis. But I think one of the most common and agreed-upon answers is the creation and maintenance of relationships—with others, with ourselves, and with God. When we take an honest look at what the internet is doing to or for our relationships, directly or indirectly, what we discover ought to inform our use of or boundaries around this universal tool.
And yes, I’m using Mister Rogers as an example of humanity. Mister Rogers, the ordained Presbyterian minister and children’s TV personality who passed away before the advent of the internet as we know it today. His calm demeanor and message of friendship and kindness were an early, quiet rebellion against the loud and attention-grabbing media that now dominates the Web. He has become an icon of human decency and goodness, along with people like Bob Ross and Steve Irwin.
Mister Rogers’ show was all about loving relationships, and he tiptoed across significant cultural barriers numerous times while on-air. He asked everyone watching, kids and adults alike, the same question we ought to ask each other, stranger or friend: “Will you be my neighbor?”
So, as I continue to consider how I use the internet and how it affects my relationships with God, others, and myself, I invite you to join me. The internet isn’t omniscient, omnipresent, or omnipotent, even if it feels that way sometimes. The three major internet technology outages we’ve had in just the last six months (Google Cloud, AWS, and Cloudflare) showed just a glimpse of how fragile it is. It’s only as solid as the humans who run it. And it in itself is not good or evil; what we do with it can be either or both.
The truths I’ve mentioned in this post provide great reasons to take a long, hard look at the internet’s role in our lives.
I plan to redefine my internet usage and defend that definition, rather than letting the internet redefine me.