The modern Internet is structured for the transmission and retransmission of constantly novel content. Even a site like HN which isn't necessarily optimized for

The modern Internet is structured for the transmission and retransmission of constantly novel content. Even a site like HN which isn't necessarily optimized for content throughput is subordinate to this structure. It's just a content aggregator with a particular community huddled around the firehose. The old Internet was connected so that people could move between content; now it's for content to move between people-- or from industrial-scale content generation to people. I certainly wander far less on the web than I did in my childhood. Everything is bigger, faster, more impersonal, and constantly changing. It's different; not necessarily better or worse. Maybe the old Internet still exists and I've just forgotten how to get to it? That's my hot take anyway.