Internet

I'm not sure if it's just a 'me' thing, but sometimes I get overwhelmed thinking about how big the modern internet is. I mean, it's inconceivable! Just think about all the raw data that's shared every day, even on social media alone- posts, messages, quote tweets, replies, images, text. There's even more when you take into account the deep web- e-mails, locked forums, discord servers, databases, that sort of stuff. Not to mention AI slop, which probably contributes the most at this point.

I think what overwhelms me most is that it's so... permanent. Not to say that nobody ever deletes anything (The unfortunate number of dead links I've encountered in my time on the net is evidence enough), but there are so many inactive profiles just drifting about the web, accumulating dust. It's weird to think that there might be more dead accounts than live. I remember once hearing someone say that the difference between historians in the past and historians in the future is that past historians had to scrounge for information when there was little of it, but future historians will have to learn how to sift through the giant amounts of data to find what's important. For some reason, that stuck with me.

The overwhelm contributes to this weird mentality where I try to be conservative with what I post- I want it to be really worth sharing if I'm going to contribute to the growing mountain of content that already exists. Of course, it's not like it really matters what I do— the internet is going to keep getting bigger and bigger until the end of time. Or until a nuke launched by some idiot in power wipes out the servers, whichever comes first.

That's probably why I'm drawn to projects like this that aim to emulate the old net, since they feel more manageable. Either that, or nostalgia for an era I didn't get to experience. In any case, it's cool that we have spaces like this, especially in a time where the modern internet feels more tumultuous than ever. Hopefully I'll be able to escape the brainron and make the most of this place.

Anyways, I'm done rambling now.

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