We Used to Share the Same Internet

I’ve been thinking about how different the internet feels now compared to, like, ten or fifteen years ago. Back then it felt like we were all seeing the same stuff. If something went viral, you knew everyone had seen it. There wasn’t really an algorithm deciding what you should care about — it was just... the internet. And it felt kind of collective, like we were all in the same space.

Now it’s just fragmented as hell. Everything is hyper-personalized. My feed is nothing like yours, and yours is nothing like someone else’s. Everyone’s living in their own little bubble. It’s kind of funny sometimes but also kind of overwhelming. Like, nobody agrees on what’s real anymore.

For example the other day I was on an AI-related forum. Half the people there are convinced we’re completely screwed and the robots are coming for everything. The other half are like, this is the best thing to ever happen, we’re about to transcend being human. There’s barely any in-between. It’s either fear or full-on hopium.

Same thing with privacy people — they talk like the dystopia already happened. Not if it’s coming, but like, we’re already in it. Everything’s being tracked, we’re being watched constantly, and we all just missed the moment to care.

And then there’s pop culture stuff. Like sometimes I’ll see someone say, “This artist is everywhere, it’s their era right now.” But I’ve literally never heard of them. Not once. Because their feed is flooded with that artist, and mine isn’t. It’s not actually “everywhere,” it’s just everywhere for them. We don’t really have universal moments anymore — at least not like we used to.

I also think about how people in different careers basically live in different worlds. Someone will be killing it in their field — getting promoted, getting popular online, winning stuff — and inside that circle, they’re a big deal. But outside of it? Nobody really knows. It’s just another job, another LinkedIn update. It's weird how important it can feel in the bubble, and how invisible it is outside of it.

It’s like everyone’s on their own version of the internet now. Nobody’s really looking at the same stuff anymore. We’re all just stuck in our own feeds, and they barely overlap. Inside each one, things feel huge, like they actually matter — but if you step back, it’s mostly just noise.