What the hell am I going to do with whatever abomination Temu is trying to sell me?
Dear Internet,
Now before we begin, I just want to say that I love you. Erm, well some of you. I like the parts of you that allow me to find new art and celebrate new interests with like-minded people. It’s also incredible how you help connect me to friends and family hundreds of miles away. And let’s not even get into the hours we’ve spent together since I was young (long live flash games!).
You’ve done a lot of good for a lot of people, but also a lot of bad for many others. We’re at a point where most people quite literally cannot live without you. Which is what brings me to the purpose of this letter — you are absolutely terribly difficult to use nowadays.
First off, you are an eyesore. There are ads all over any given webpage, you might as well be a billboard. Flashing ads, ads that have their own mini-players, ads where if you close them they will redirect you to more ads…it’s painful. And they’re all weird too! What the hell am I going to do with whatever abomination Temu is trying to sell me? It feels like I accidentally click an ad — no matter how big or small — everytime I turn on my phone, which doesn’t feel so accidental.
And what’s with the paywalls? I do my best to be consistent yet direct with you, I do little to no doomscrolling like I used to (well…some doomscrolling), and you repay me with what? Subscriptions, payment plans, and paywalls, for things ranging from news articles to Photoshop! Sure, this may not be directly your fault, but I really have to get it off my chest. Paywalls are just that — walls. Barriers to tools, resources, and information that shouldn’t be restricted based on how much you can afford a month. How is a bitch to learn?
Not to mention that you can barely even search for things anymore. You get articles with the matching keywords but none of the actual substance of what I’m looking for — even if I type out a full sentence. Instead, improving already competent search functions that have served thousands of users for years we get…new AI features? Why the hell does every social media app have an AI bot and what am I supposed to do with it on Snapchat? I don’t need to ask an AI assistant how to write Instagram captions or summarize search results on Google — I need functioning applications without cluttered UIs.
Internet, you have changed the world and our minds. But too many people are worried about lining their pockets and squeezing out hidden credit card charges than actually…well connecting. Connecting people to ideas and conversations around the world. Obscure music suggestions that change lives and hidden movies that inspire. Independent and homemade journalism and documentation that bigger platforms don’t cover.
But easy-to-access media and information is seemingly going out of fashion in favour for predatory subscription plans and corporate gatekeeping. It’s not a pretty look.
You are imperfect, dear Internet, and that may be how you were designed. You’re meant to be used by people for whatever reason, and we’ve accepted you for that. We can’t control how we each use you (or even why), but we can make the overall process more accessible and less capitalistic.
