Ironically, this is what “the algorithm” had in store for me today (video below)..

Watching this really got me to thinking. It is about a younger mid-aged man who is posing as a 75 year old man basically getting on the internet for the first time. His experiences was quite an eye opener as to how the modern “algorithm internet” pulls people in, manipulates them, scams them, brainwashes them, etc.

But this would never happen to me… right? I mean, I know what the algorithm is, I know what it does, I know how it is systematically destroying society piece of piece. I wouldn’t fall for it… right?? How can I be so sure?

I am a YouTube Premium subscriber. It’s basically “my main TV”, I watch it nightly like one might have done in the 70’s through the early 00’s on cable or satellite. Even now as I’m writing this, one of my frequently watched creators is playing in the background like so many History Channel programs did back in the day.

My feed gets “moody” sometimes. There are days when it’s just one video after another of great mind engaging content, still there are days when it’s just nothing but slop. I’m usually pretty good at spotting AI garbage, though sometimes I’m still fooled until I get a few videos in. Sometimes the slop is so bad I consider canceling my Premium subscription all together. Even now I mostly keep it around for the music on demand.

For the last several months I’ve been working on cleaning my digital life up. My wife and I both canceled Facebook, finding it of no real value anymore. Friends will be required to keep up with us via other means.

This website is part of that endeavor. I know it seems to be a little ironic to use the internet to create a web journal ranting about the internet. However, this site represents what I consider “the original internet”. You see, when the internet first came out in the 1990’s and became popular the world over, it was truly a marvel “of the people, by the people, and for the people”. Most of the content online was not only written by people, but written by people basically for free. Just fellow humans sharing ideas back and forth, building friendships, networking, etc.

That was the first internet, and in my opinion, that was the true internet. It’s a world that anyone born after 2000 will never know, and will be completely foreign to those born beyond 2020. And that’s what this website is for, it represents the “old true internet”. Everything written by hand, by me, just pouring out my thoughts on a screen, rolling up my proverbial message in a bottle and sending it off to sea.

I’m not naive, I realize that in this modern internet of social media, video shorts, tiny attention spans, etc, it is likely the only entities that will ever read these pages are my wife, and the bots. That’s okay, because if I’m being completely honest… I’m not writing this site for the world, I’m writing it for me and for my wife.

For me, because it gives me something productive to do. It provides me with an outlet to let off steam, vent off my thoughts, explore ideas, and most importantly, exercise my mind. When I write pages on this website, even if they are only read by my wife, it re-trains my brain to engage in creative thought once more. For when I’m writing here, I’m not “consuming content”, I’m expressing my own thoughts. For me, social media is a cancer of the spirit, and this website is part of the cure (along with other real world activities that don’t involve a screen).

Finally, for my wife. I feel like the words written here help her to understand me, her complicated husband. Hopefully it will help us bridge the gaps in our communication. Time will tell. I hope she enjoys reading the contents of my mind spilled out in written words. I know I enjoy writing it.

My emancipation from the shackles of modern day enshittification doesn’t stop with penning a journal. I have plenty to do around the house that doesn’t even involve the internet whatsoever. I’ve got a whole library of books to read, old computer games I can play, pictures I can draw, tasks to complete around the house, road trips to make, and projects to tackle. Yeah… there’s plenty to do.