31
What are some things do you think contribute to the dead internet theory? (piefed.social)
submitted 16 hours ago by to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
10 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

We know the core of the theory itself, but I'm wondering if people can talk of other reasons why. I'll start.

I think what contributes to the dead internet theory, is the extreme sanitation measures that platforms online have taken. Now I'm not saying that I advocate for the idea of people to be able to get away with spamming racial slurs or derogatory terms to be in everyday discussion. But, it does narrow down what people can generally say or discuss. A lot of the time, people seem to not be ready yet to tackle difficult discussions or topics without getting emotionally charged about it.

So that in turn, makes it so the only kind of discussions and talk you see is just softball kinds. You know, like discussing sports teams, the weather and vice versa.

The other thing I think contributes to dead internet theory are assholes online. Nobody likes interacting with assholes and toxic people in general. It gets tiresome to have to go to a platform thinking the experience will be good, only to find that there's pockets of people who determined their life's purpose, to be a jackass to anyone they come across.

And over time, nobody wants to deal with that shit so they leave. And leaving hurts communities. If there's no community for anyone to participate in, then it is as good as dead and gone.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 8 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (2 children)

I think it will boil down to people leaving the internet, caused primarily by platform decay. The regular person realizes they are wasting their time looking at ragebait, ads and propaganda. The algorithm will no longer be able stimulate the user in a way that keeps them hooked and genuinely engaged. The influencers will be the last ones to quit, as they will be getting "engagement" by bots while regular users - mostly viewers who don't post or comment much - keep steadily leaving, also taking their friends and family with them.

Edit: I will add a bit of hopefulness:

I do think social media advertising has a bit of a bubbly vibe to it, I think the effectiveness of social media advertising is highly exaggerated. I can see internet advertisements get scaled down in the future, thus keeping the mainstream internet going for a few more years longer than if they keep up the current levels.

I am also feeling hopeful that the internet has helped people find offline hobbies easier, so leaving the internet will be easier and less socially devastating. People are getting ready to go outside.

Final edit:

I don't think internet will ever fully, permanently end. It has connected so many people from across the world based on so many different interests. For example, internet based gaming (selling, sharing, developing and playing together) is such a big and popular hobby, that there is no way in hell it will go away ever. The mainstream internet (meta-platforms, reddit, youtube, etc) will probably loose majority of their human users in the future, but as a whole I don't think internet will ever loose 100% of its users.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 11 hours ago

    Your take about users leaving is a bit optimistic. A more pessimistic view is some people may never realize or may just be too addicted to care. The reality will probably sit somewhere in between. Some people will leave, others will not.

    BTW, the internet =/= shared user content. That stuff might wither, but the internet remains useful for a host of other applications: payment and shopping, file sharing, business, person to person communication, remote access, gaming, etc. Basically, any verifiable application. Which is what the internet should have been. These tech behemoths that have risen thanks to user content sharing are concocting the very poison to their own business in a race to the bottom.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 11 hours ago

    I wonder if theres going to be a split. Major platforms with all the slop, bots and ads, and then a more self hosted or volunteer ran services.

    Personally I left the major platforms behind, says a lot if I say that Lemmy is the "biggest" platform I use these days (I don't count watching YouTube without a account and never seeing the comments as using the platform in the "social" sense). Other than that, I'm on a small IRC network (we have about 150 people in total, 20-50 every day active ones and rest more or less active), same network hosts a old-timey forum, radio, git and something else that I've forgotten about, some of the people have Gemini capsules and stuff like that.

    I much prefer the smaller place, theres less "noise" and I'm not demanded to do anything, nobody wants me to like and subscribe or watch/listen ads, nobody yells at me because I don't subscribe to their politics 100%, nobody yells at me for asking a silly question about Linux, no. The radio has ads, but they are all jokes. Its less traffic, but I think the traffic is better quality. Like there might be days on the forum and theres no posts, there might be a few hours per day when nobody talks in the IRC, but that doesn't bother me. Sometimes its good to not have a constant stream of stuff flying in your face.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent