rina's space

july 14, 2025 @ 05:29 pm | est. reading time: 5 - 6 mins | word count 960

the internet is not a problem, we are

“dead internet theory this, dead internet theory that.”, “internet is bad now”, etc. all those complaints ON the internet itself. now imagine if dostoyevsky wrote a book about how we shouldn’t have books any more.

do you even realize how unhinged that is? you’re out here whining about how nothing feels real online anymore, while literally being online, contributing to the same content soup you’re calling rotten. you’re not above the system just because you’re self-aware about it. you’re still feeding it. we all are. we are complaining about the water while sitting in the fucking bath and refusing to get out. if everything feels artificial now, maybe it’s because we’ve all become really, really good at pretending. because honestly what IS real anymore? you can’t be 100% certain what is or isn’t a bot content. i could be a bot, without anyone ever realizing. i am not, but i could be.

but here’s something people don’t want to hear we are at fault, at least partially. we are the ones that abandoned niche personal websites, we are the ones that left forums, only to move to centralized social media sites. we came to those other websites because “everyone’s there”, when back then, everyone, in fact, was not there. we’ve choosen convenience over everything. every single sloppy algorithm or ai bot is developed because we shown a need for it. we are the ones that wanted more and more content, and without bots, its physically impossible to produce the amount people wanted.

we are the ones that uknowingly trained ais. remember cleverbot? microsoft’s tay bot on twitter. we talked to those bots out of novelty, because it was cool, unknowingly, probably training the ai in the bacground. it kinda hurts tho, when you realize we are majorly the reason for every problem modern internet faces. but it is absolutely true, the modern internet does feel souless. but again, we are the ones that allowed a few corporate giants to grow, we are the ones that visited their own websites instead of some niche smaller ones. its all us.

and dont get me wrong, please. i hate corpos as much as everyone else, but again the reason shady algorithms exist is because we’ve let them. they introduced those slowly, but we never left their platforms, we’ve let that alrgorithm to suck us in, and as we refused to leave, that algorithm became stronger, and more morally questionable.

and yeah, it’s fucked. we’re stuck in this loop and we don’t even try to get out. we act like we’re being held hostage, but really we handed over the keys without even thinking twice. the endless scroll, the likes, the retweets, the stupid fucking dopamine rush every time someone acknowledges our existence online. we want to be seen, even if it’s by complete strangers who don’t give a shit about us. and we keep chasing that because it’s easy. it’s right there. it’s addicting. and no one wants to admit they’re addicted, so instead we all pretend we’re smarter than the system, like calling it out gives us a free pass. it doesn’t. you’re still here. i’m still here. bitching about it doesn’t make it less real. it’s like we’ve built our own prison and then complained that the walls are too cold. every single time we scroll past something mildly interesting instead of logging off, we’re making it worse. every time we feed the algorithm, every time we post some dumb shit for engagement, every time we pretend we’re not part of the problem when we absolutely are, we’re digging the hole deeper. and maybe that’s what stings the most. knowing we could’ve said no at any point, but we didn’t. we fucking didn’t.

and now we’re so deep in it that even the idea of getting out feels like something not possible. like what the hell are we supposed to do? go back to reading books? writing in forums no one visits? making personal blogs no one clicks on? (well.... maybe i have a blog. does anyone read this shit?). the second you try to unplug, you feel like you’re disappearing, LITERALLY. like you’re missing out on something. but missing out on what, exactly? more recycled takes? more fake-ass parasocial shit? more people arguing about bullshit they forgot five minutes later? we’re clinging to this garbage fire like it’s all we have, because for some of us, it kinda is. this is where we socialize, where we cope, where we scream into the void and hope someone hears us. and the worst part? even when you know it’s all performative, even when you know none of it actually matters, it still feels like it does. and feelings are fucking sticky. they don’t care if the logic checks out. so we stay. and we scroll. and we pretend it’s fine. and we laugh at memes about how not fine it is. and the cycle just fucking continues.

and here’s the part no one wants to admit, but im sure many feel the same way as i do. i feel very fucking depressed without the internet. like, in the literal sense. it’s not just boredom. it’s this weird emptiness, this heavy-ass silence that creeps in the second the tabs are closed. no notifications, no background noise, no fake little hits of connection. just me. and holy shit, being alone with your own brain for more than five minutes is brutal.

at the end of the day, the internet is what we made it. it’s a mirror, a trap, and a lifeline all at once. we can’t blame it without blaming ourselves. maybe the only way out is owning that truth and actually doing something about it. but i feel like it’s already too late.

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