I just realized the other day that 2009 was probably the best era of the internet. I truly believe the internet will never be as good as it was back then.
Today, the internet is a goddamn clusterfuck, and that’s not a stretch to say. But about 20 years ago, the internet was the coolest fucking thing you’d ever seen in your life.
The 2009 internet was simply amazing because, I think, of three primary components: Myspace, the 2009 version of YouTube, and the blogosphere.
Let’s start with Myspace. Back in 2009, the primary driver of social media wasn’t stuffy Facebook; it was Myspace.
Myspace was the shit. You could design your profile in any way you wanted, including animations, graphics, music, audio, and all kinds of crazy things.
More importantly, unlike Facebook and every other social media platform since then, the culture of Myspace was one of friendliness and openness.
If you’re too young to know or remember, when I tell you exactly how this worked, you’re going to be shocked to hear this.
Back around 2009ish, if you messaged a random pretty girl on Myspace who did not know you and wasn’t even one of your Myspace “friends,” and said, “Hey, how’s it going?” she would actually message you back. (“Hey! I’m doing great. How are you?”)
You could then actually start a conversation, make a new friend, or set up a date and possibly get laid. I know, because I did this a bazillion times.
Can you imagine something like this happening on Facebook, Instagram, or any other modern-day social media platform you can think of as a regular event (and not an unusual exception to the rule)?
Hell no!
But on Myspace back in 2009, this shit was the norm.
I had sex with a lot of attractive women back then using nothing but Myspace. Myspace is also how I met the long-term girlfriend I had before I met Pink Firefly.
It was beautiful. Tom Anderson was a god damn genius.
Next, you had the 2009 version of YouTube. Again, what I’m about to say might blow you away…
Back then, when you had subscribers to your YouTube channel, they actually saw your content(!).
The front page of videos was actually based on videos that were popular and that people were talking about, not something the corporate YouTube algorithm was pushing.
There was an algorithm but it was weak and didn’t do shit as compared to the left-wing, corporatist, statist, biased, unworkable shitpile it is today.
Titles of videos and thumbnails actually and accurately described what was in the video or thumbnail(!). Clickbait existed, but it was rare and shunned instead of the norm it is today on YouTube.
You had unlimited free speech on YouTube and you could say literally anything you wanted with no restrictions, no demonetizations, and no bans.
It was absolutely incredible. I think people today are either too young to know or old enough to know but have forgotten how amazing and revolutionary the original version of YouTube was.
Lastly, back in 2009, instead of Twitter, the driving source of information and debate online was the blogosphere. This meant that if you disagreed with someone, you actually had to sit down and take the time and effort to write an article explaining your views in detail.
It wasn’t like Twitter, where you can just send a quick, snarky, insulting tweet, then the people who already like you jerk off and talk about how awesome you are and the people who hate you simply return an insult of their own, perpetuating a kindergarten level of discourse.
No, back in 2009, if you disagreed with someone on the internet, you actually had to construct an argument, using logic, facts, and data. Parish the thought!
The blogosphere, which I was a strong part of, was amazing because if you found two people or ideologies who disagreed with each other, you could look at both sides’ arguments and make an informed decision for yourself.
This is instead of debate on social media today, which is a bunch of anger, reactivity, irrationality, tribalism, virtue signaling, clickbait, pandering, and personal attacks.
I honestly look back at the Internet around 2009 with the same nostalgia I look back on the 1980s. An absolutely wonderful, exciting, educational time of enriching your life that we will probably never see again.