Evolution of the Internet: How Far Have We Really Come?

I've been on the internet since 1995, when the technology was a hobby. Most kids growing up today know no other world besides a modem-connected one, but back then, the "world wide web" was as far from mainstream as punk was in the 70s and your average person trusted this new platform about as much as parents trusted the Sex Pistols.

Back in the mid-90s, the only people writing were the misfits. The word blog was at best in its infancy. The term was diary or journal and most were obscured by anonymity. No one's real face was out there on the web next to their diary, either. No one's real name was their web address unless they were starting a business. Free home page offers began to crop up by the hundreds. All anyone had to know to get their page up and running was a little basic "html" and they could have the page of their dreams. Fonts were played with as a matter of course. Websites filled with oversized, multi-colored text and mouse or scrolling effects were the norm. Imbedded music was all the rage. Thousands and thousands of fan pages were dedicated to cult television shows like The X-Files. If a person was writing on the web it was because, 99% of the time, they really had something to say, something they were passionate about, even if it was only a favorite but little-known actor or how angry they were at their boss.

Today's internet climate is a totally different entity. When it took off as a concept, the world wide web sold out faster than a grunge band with a new record deal. In the past few years alone, the social media blitz has turned internet anonymity into a virtual impossibility. Nearly everyone's real name is right at the top of their blog. Diaries have all but died off and, instead of the rebels who used to be the only writers, now the internet is filled by the thoughts of any half-sentient organism who can press cell phone buttons.

Ironically, the social media sites have helped hasten the demise of the sense of community that once existed on the net. People are no longer connected by their need to share their private thoughts, they are divided by their attempts to be the loudest voice in the storm. Buddy lists are no longer filled up with the names of strangers drawn together across the miles by similar interests but by the names of the very people those ranting early diaries were created to rant about - bosses, high school bullies, sisters-in-law, and the like. When dial-up was the only option, only the patient survived on the web. Cable has made it a world of instant gratification that breeds shorter attention spans.

Perhaps it was also this way with television, radio, and the telephone. Maybe each new technology must go through this eventual sell-out period. Perhaps the time has come for a new technology the rebels can embrace.