The web is dead, what's next? - Ash Kyd

Continue reading this post for free, courtesy of Ash Kyd lol.

I tried to open a new bank account the other day. I got through the text message verification, then it popped up a note telling my my browser isn't supported. I closed the tab and gave up. I might try again later, but just it's annoying we're back to the good old days of Please Use Internet Explorer And Update Your Flash Player.

Then after a lot of internal deliberation, I figured the good The Guardian do for Australian journalism outweighs the transphobic bullshit the UK parent is renowned for, and I should probably subscribe. I got most of the way through the sign up form then got stuck in captcha hell; selecting buses and zebra crossings in a loop until I gave up. They won't even take my money.

I've been using RSS a bit more in an attempt to bring back a bit of variety to my news habits. But most of the sites I visit nowadays have the bog standard newsletter/cookie/ad popups that make it unpleasant to read. We're all familiar with this. It's just how it is now. But the AI content-pocalypse has led to more paywalls, that require logins, and/or get-the-magic-link-via-email-every-time workflows, and it's just bullshit, actually.

And I shit you not, I just tried to log into one of the newsletters I used to sub to, and for some reason Substack is now age gated and requires a facial scan to access. It's just bonkers.

I have a deep mistrust of content online nowadays. I think we all do, to some degree. It's hard not to be cynical when everything is driven by the perverse incentive to generate reams of neverending algorithm fodder, regardless of whether it's good. Or even necessary. Even if what I'm reading was (on the off chance) actually written by a human; from OnlyFans to Substack (monetising far right extremists lol), everything is about Content with a capital C.

And yet almost none of it has actual value. Just ask Google, and it'll find 5 sources to summarise for you.

I started journalling last year when Mum was dying because I figured it's a better place to pour my grief, and I kept it up because I appreciate an end-to-end encrypted vault for my stupid thoughts. I don't need to monetise this stuff, and you don't need to read it. But now I'm writing more and publishing less, and it's made me reevaluate what even is the point of blogging? We're in the dead internet era where this site sees more bot traffic than human by a large margin; nobody's reading tech articles and my little blogs are better suited to a private journal. And given the AI-powered advancements in mass surveillance capabilities, the very real opsec risks of posting anything publicly at all are much more real than they ever have been.

But mostly, I'm just not enjoying the cumulative output of humanity. So it's hard to feel encouraged to contribute to it.

👉 Now you've reached the end, why not<br>subscribe with RSS.

💌 Or even

send me an email. I'd like that!

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