r/rant • u/WarmNConvivialHooar • 1d ago
The internet is borderline unusable
Everything is slower than it was in 2006, when it should definitely be faster. Everything is littered with ads, demands that you sign in via Google, or shoving a privacy notice in your face as if you actually have a choice about "how we use your data." A lot of stuff is paywalled now, the stuff that isn't is AI-generated slop, scammy, or straight up propaganda. Search is terrible; if you type something in it will just show you what it wants you to buy based on something you might have looked up 6 months ago, even if it's totally unrelated. If you misspell the smallest word it acts like you are speaking a foreign language. Wikipedia is terrible with this too; you must be a perfect speller to find what you're looking for, in 25 years they can't be bothered with any kind of suggestion algorithm. Plus they're always hitting you up for money like they're running the site from under a bridge somewhere. If you have anything important to do your password will never work, even if you saved it in a manager. Then you will get an error message telling you to contact support, but there's no support to contact. Stuff like Canva is so bloated with unnecessary features it's unusable. Everybody wants you to use their chatbot but chatbots just spit out namby-pamby pollyanna crap that doesn't apply in the real world. They exist in an alternate vanilla dimension where everything works as intended and everybody is reasonable and calm. Even the user-generated content on YouTube/Tiktok is all desperate people trying to make a buck because there are no legitimate jobs. So there's no authenticity, and no consensus. You can watch videos on why everyone needs to hustle and grind to get ahead and then watch the same amount on why it's pointless and everyone should give up. There's no meaning and no point to using it anymore. I'm logging off now.
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u/myshtree 1d ago
Google search (or any search) is what gets me - you used to be able to search for a plant or info about something and have multiple sources. Now the entire first page will be full of nursery’s or stores or ads for sites selling whatever you’ve searched. Search for specific trade skill or service in your area - a page of fake AI generated ads pretending to be about “removals” in “random town” that link back to some other website on other side of country or overseas. Even all the images - mostly just from shops or stores on first page
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u/femsci-nerd 10h ago
I am sooooo tired of EVERY FUCKING WEBSITE offering to send me notifications AND GOOGLE popping up telling me to sign in with Google! EVERY website does this whether it's click bait or news or shopping. Like seriously, if we wanted notifications, we will ask for them. STOP wasting my time and making me click NO!!!!
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u/South-Swordfish7891 1d ago
You can make the internet slightly more bearable by using Duckduckgo. They don't force you to use AI. They're much better than Google, in my experience.
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u/myshtree 1d ago
Been trying to get used to them but not finding them any better in terms of searches - still so many search results are things for sale instead of information - I stick with them because fuck Google
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u/Brief-Translator1370 1d ago
Yeah, you were definitely not using the internet in 2006. Or you somehow managed to forget anything about it
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u/WanderingAlienBoy 22h ago
I'd say the mid-2010's were better than now in smooth user experience, and in the 2000's it had more soul and wasn't as corporate or concentrated on a few platforms.
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u/A_r_t_u_r 1d ago
We must be using different internets... I have absolutely nothing like what you describe.
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u/RatEnabler 1d ago
Fr browsing for anything is like receiving an icepick to the brain. legit unusable and an exercise in frustration. I hope the internet explodes and everyone has to go back to the pub again