My internet throughout the decades

Having used the interconnected network in four different decades, some of these experiences might echo those of quite a few:

📜 1990s

• a library of digital books which one could "permanently borrow"
  • content via entering URLs, before "news feeds"
  • the static (personal) website and beginnings of blogging
  • no personality, just "surfing random websites"
  • trying to "form a web presence"

💻 2000s

• a contemporary art gallery of random emotional expression
  • the "reverse chronological blog feed"
  • the hosted blog and the beginnings of social media
  • anonymous "role-playing" + constant username-changing
  • trying to "get more hits and followers"

📲 2010s

• a social hangout and popularity contest
  • the "algorithmic social media feed"
  • the full height of terminally online social media
  • semi-anonymous role-playing + "alt-accounting" + constant username-changing
  • trying to "go viral" but failing all the time

🗄️ 2020s

• an information toolbox and filing cabinet
  • the "carefully-curated and infrequent e-mail newsletters"
  • the gradual abandonment of social media
  • ...and the revival of a personal website
  • more stability + less anonymity + less care about identity and interaction
  • cautious skepticism but adoption of "generative pre-trained transformers" (or "AI" to the layperson)
  • trying to get organized instead of "discovered"

⚙️ 2030s and beyond?

• continued maintenance of the information toolbox and filing cabinet
  • retrieval of information outside of desktop or mobile devices?
  • the total abandonment of social media (except private chats)?
  • more focus on "the blog" (or "personal knowledge cloud")?
  • possible automation of many, if not most or all, processes?
  • not trying: just existing and learning?