The internet was objectively better when nobody had a personal brand.
By @tesskindof · Nostalgia
Back when people made weird fan sites just for fun, being online felt creative instead of like an unpaid marketing internship. Trying to optimize every hobby for reach ruined the entire point of having digital spaces.
The full story
Old internet had personality because people were just making weird GeoCities pages and forum signatures for fun. Now every teenager on TikTok has a personal brand, a posting schedule, and an aesthetic guide. We traded authentic community for algorithm optimization, and we definitely lost something in the exchange.
How people voted
- Facts — 44% (37 votes)
- Depends — 33% (28 votes)
- No Way — 24% (20 votes)
Readers say “Facts” (44%) — 85 votes and 5 comments so far.
What people are saying
@fayemm — cant wait to optimize my funeral for high engagement.
@zaneforsure — did you actually code a geocities page back then or are you just remembering the aesthetic through screenshots?
@paigeee — cooked.
@gabeactually — i would literally block anyone who sends me a link to their media kit or content calendar on sight.
@owenok2 — you are simply experiencing romanticized nostalgia for an era of the internet that was actually just unsearchable chaos.
Keep reading
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- Burning mixtape CDs in the 2000s was actually terrible and we need to stop romanticizing it.