Yes, the Internet is Dead...Dead Repetitious! The New Snoozefest

Andelie, Googoth, 2008

For the last week or so I've been sitting in bed, lazing about, with the absolute most horrendous dry cough. I don't feel that bad, but it's the kind of cough that is not socially acceptable. Try getting into a taxi, while wearing a mask, with the AC turned up to full blowing around some smelly air freshener and not hacking for about five minutes straight. Talk about awkward! Anyhoo, as a result I've had to find something to do while stuck in bed. After an hour or so I get bored of reading, same with Netflix, I can write a bit, but eventually I turn to the wild World Wide Web!

I have fond memories of the Internet having been a user since I was a mere five years old. What can I say? I grew up with it! As a child it was the perfect place to be curious and it felt as though it contained endless possibilities. I have fond memories of using the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button on Google to explore all of the parody versions of the search engine. At the time, many considered them to be Google "Easter Eggs." My favourites were Googoth and Google Loco. The former brought the searcher to a Gothic version of Google complete with an "I'm Feeling Depressed" button. Google Loco would bring the user to a replica of the original where all the letters would break into dance. There was a sense of genuine quirkiness and whimsy on the Internet in the early 00s. Users never knew what they would find when they opened up Internet Explorer.

In 2023, I believe this whimsy is long dead. You may have heard of the "Dead Internet theory"—first propagated sometime between when Drake dropped the album "If You Are Reading This It's Too Late" and when Joe Biden was elected president of the U.S.A.—the primary belief is that most everything on the internet is fake, content is created by bots, and we are being controlled by a secret elite. (It seems to me that all conspiracy theories these days must have a "secret elite." Come on? Corporations with marketing budgets in the billions really aren't that much of a secret). In 2021, this idea appeared far-fetched with Kaitlyn Tiffany from The Atlantic describing it as "patently ridiculous" which at the time I would've agreed with. 

Around the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic I deleted social media to avoid the pandemonium that I expected to ensue. In doing so, I avoided the sheer outpouring of artificial faces, bodies, and AI Influencers. Occasionally I will check out the Reddit page r/Instagramreality and I'm literally astonished. Our minds have become so distorted from viewing Facetuned images that people are posting photos of themselves with miniaturized heads, impossibly long legs, and disproportionately small waists believing that they look real. I cannot comprehend how Influencers promoting such distorted images have tens of thousands of followers until I account for bots. According to Security Magazine, "...in 2022, 47.4% of all internet traffic came from bots, a 5.1% increase over the previous year. The same report showed that human traffic, at 52.6%, decreased to its lowest level in eight years" (2023). The Internet is not entirely fake, but it's getting there. And so are we. 

There is a marked difference between the culture of the 2020s and that of the aughts. It used to be that uniqueness was celebrated. To state that one was a "poser" was the worst insult. Who would want to pretend to be someone that they are not? You are the one and only you. Yet in the 20s, bots are not the only replicas. Most everyone is familiar with the term Instagram Face which describes the uncanny likeness of all Instagram Influencers with their Bratz doll appearances. Even the reality TV characters of the 2010s, the guidos of Jersey Shore and Hefner's Playboy Bunnies, were more distinguishable than today's beauties. 

This repetition of presentation is also found in the design of social media. In earlier Internet days each website and platform displayed iconic features. For example, Facebook was recognizable as a primarily text based platform where users could share life updates and the occasional profile picture. Instagram was solely photos and it was an exceptional platform for artists or photographers. Whereas Twitter was the place for quick news updates or humorous thoughts to be shared. Now, the inherent identity of each of these platforms has blended together and has subsumed the features of the monolith TikTok. It's impossible to avoid the short, often seconds-long, videos no matter which platform you visit. The greatest time suck of them all has captured our attention. My question is what are we really losing in this narrowing of options?

The artificiality of options is not only found on social media but in all forms of digital media. If you are not already aware, you should become aware of the convergence of media ownership. Journalist, Michael Corconan, noted in 2016 that, "[i]n 1983... just 50 corporations owned 90 percent of the media...[at the time of writing] more than 90 percent of the media is owned by just six companies: Viacom, News Corporation, Comcast, CBS, Time Warner and Disney." I can only imagine that more publications have been consolidated in 2023. Everything is dull because it's all the same! Every publication plays to the agenda of one of six perspectives. And every perspective shared must support the views of the corporation. Even Vice, the original bad boy in journalism is owned by Disney. It's no wonder that everything online appears to be more uniform in style and presentation. 

During my web browsing, I decided to visit some popular fashion publications out of curiosity. Growing up I loved the renowned Canadian show FashionTelevision which highlighted the most enchanting designers and looks of the time period. I yearn for the early 00s engagement that I had with that show, but the digital publications these days are not living up to my standard! Online fashion is dull, dull, dull! The following are three headlines on the main pages of Vogue, Glamour, and The Zoe Report. Please guess which headline is from which website: "Taylor Swift Wore An $1,800 Varsity Jacket To The Chiefs Game" (Stewart, 2024), "Taylor Swift Attends Travis Kelce’s Playoff Game in Her Coziest Outfit Yet" (2024, Tannenbaum), and "Taylor Swift Takes Her Game Day Style To the Next Level" (Allaire, 2024). Why are we supposed to care about Taylor Swift's outfit so much? And when did these publications lose their unique identity? To be fair, both Vogue and Glamour are owned by Condé Nast Publications which is privately owned by Advance Publications. Whereas The Zoe Report is owned by Bustle Media Group which also owns W Magazine which was previously owned by Condé Nast Publications. You can't escape the media giants, can you? 

Everything is all about clickbait, advertising, and self-promotion. The Internet has turned into one giant trash heap of recycled news, public relations, and elitist brand marketing. What have you engaged with on the Internet recently that wasn't trying to sell you something? And please...don't talk to me anymore about those vapid artificially entertaining AI generated Facebook posts. I often wonder if TikTok videos are really enjoyable or just downright addictive. We have entered the time period of The Matrix, we're all plugged in by choice and our lives are much more boring than Mr. Anderson's. Everything on the Internet is just one giant sales catalogue that we just cannot set down. And the worst part—every page is boring! Just like Neo, we have the choice to be unplugged, we just have to choose to go offline. What choice will you make when 90% of digital content is AI generated?

  Citations

Allaire, C. (2024, January 14). Taylor Swift Takes Her Game Day Style to the Next Level. Vogue. https://www.vogue.com/article/taylor-swift-custom-game-day-jacket-travis-kelce

Corcoran, M. (2016, September 28). Twenty Years of Media Consolidation Has Not Been Good for Our Democracy. BillMoyers.com. https://billmoyers.com/story/twenty-years-of-media-consolidation-has-not-been-good-for-our-democracy/

Security Staff. (2023, May 11). 47% of all Internet Traffic Came From Bots in 2022. Security Magazine RSS. https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/99339-47-of-all-internet-traffic-came-from-bots-in-2022#:~:text=A%20new%20report%20reveals%20that,lowest%20level%20in%20eight%20years.

Stewart, K. (2024, January 23). Taylor Swift Sported an $1,800 Varsity Jacket to the Chiefs Game. The Zoe Report. https://www.thezoereport.com/culture/taylor-swift-varsity-bomber-jacket

Tannenbaum, E. (2024, January 22). Taylor Swift Attends Travis Kelce’s Playoff Game in Her Coziest Outfit Yet. Glamour. https://www.glamour.com/story/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-playoff-game-cozy-outfit

Tiffany, K. (2021, August 31). Maybe You Missed It, But the Internet “Died”Five Years Ago. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/08/dead-internet-theory-wrong-but-feels-true/619937/