Is it possible to take back the Internet?

I've been thinking a lot about the Web and the Internet lately. I mean, A LOT. You see, for this post to work, I'll need to make a handful of uncomfortable confessions here, but hopefully, some folks will relate to what I'm saying.

Back in 1999, when I started using a dial-up connection at home, the Internet had a very restricted presence in my life. Whenever I wanted to delve into my favorite topics or chat with someone online, I would need to stop whatever I was doing, go all the way to my bedroom, fire up my old Athlon K6-2 PC, dial my provider, and browse the web at an astonishing 42 Kbps speed. Images would take forever to load. There was no such thing as videos online. Streaming services would sound like some kind of science fiction idea when I was 13.

Once I finished whatever I was doing online, I would turn my PC off and head back to real life. Even if I spent three hours online, the rest of my day would still be made up of real, tangible, human experience. No algorithms pushing endless content to keep me stuck to my screen. No tracking. No aggressive publicity.

Yesterday, I was taking a walk with my 9-year-old and asked him, "Son, do you understand what the Internet is?" And he stared blankly at me like I was asking him to define electricity. "Well, isn't it that thing that makes TV and phones work?"

I had some insights from that conversation. For starters, the old ideal of a collaborative Web seems to be dead—or on life support, at least—for the younger generations. The Internet is no longer a place where you go to join a bigger conversation but rather a place to consume "content" from. Second, as I was talking to my son, it became clear that the Internet is synonymous with Big Tech names nowadays.

"What more specifically could be the Internet, son?" I asked again only to be met with, "Well, you know, Dad... things like Game Pass, Netflix, Spotify, Instagram."

When I told him I was putting up a website, he looked at me like I was doing some kind of incredible stunt compared to appearing on national television—although I doubt appearing on national TV means for him what it used to mean for us LOL.

What's there to rescue from the past?

Okay, okay. I get it. This whole conversation feels like a whole bunch of pointless nostalgia. The world has changed, and we have to roll with it. Besides, what is there to go back to? That's a fair question.

What I really miss about the good old days of Web 1.0 is that handmade feeling of the old fansites and a few more things like:

1. Not being tracked the entire time. For instance, searching for a faucet online often leads to being bombarded with faucet ads for days.
2. Not having consumerist impulses planted in my mind by so much publicity.
3. Conversations back then felt more genuine, as people were less concerned with performing for an audience or going viral. For example, when I befriended a whole family from Oregon while living in Brazil, via ICQ.
4. Actually being able to be offline when I chose to, not having my location tracked, and not having disruptive notifications bleeping all the time.

While it's impossible to fully go back to the good old days when there was no high-speed Internet connection in our pockets, I believe we can adopt some practices to regain control.

The fact is, we became a product for publicity companies such as Google and Meta. Our attention is sold to customers of such companies that want to advertise to us. This is one of the reasons why I'm studying how to de-Google and de-Facebook my life—that is, taking steps to reduce the presence and impact of these big corporations in my life.

I'm also changing a few things. For example, WhatsApp is ubiquitous here in Brazil. Everyone texts everyone all the time. All businesses depend on using it to communicate with their customers. I am truly saddened that I might not be able to actually ditch this Meta service. However, I'm using it just like we use emails: no notifications, and I only check it a few times a day.

I'm also working on quitting my YouTube habit, since it doesn't allow for spontaneous explorations of topics but rather pushes us deeper and deeper into our personal rabbit holes.

Finally, I'm working on taking back my data: cloud storage of documents, photos, email messages, and even the media I watch. Owning your digital stuff is the only way to not be in the hands of big corporations. Reclaiming our attention might be the way not to become another product to be sold to advertisers.

Next week, I'm working on setting up my own VPS for file hosting. I'll make sure to document the changes in my quality of life with these small habit changes. Hope to see you along for the ride!

And what about you? Are you old enough to have experienced the old days of the Web? Do you miss anything? Do you also feel uncomfortable with the current state of the Internet, or is this just me being a conspiracy theory lunatic? Have a nice end of the year, y'all!