People of A Certain Age will know of the days Long Long Ago when "going online" involved a landline phone, a screechy modem and a monthly subscription to Compuserve, Prodigy, GEnie, and, of course AOL.

What these services had were very limited compared to the sprawling internet of today, and what they also had was a fee for use - The Compuserve account I had in 1987 charged $5 to 6 an hour for access after 6PM - it was over $20 an hour during the day. Until the end, these services were all subscription-driven, and while we call pay for Internet access in some way or another, we were all trained over the late 2000's to expect things on a screen to be "free" in exchange for having ads sprayed all over your screens. We paid with our attention. Today, "free" services are massive data gathering and brokering machines.
In case you're wondering, Facebook generated 87 billion in revenue in 2020 from about 2.7 Billion monthly active users. Your data is worth a whole lot more or less than you may realize.

Free stuff online is the norm, but it's all come at a cost - a huge cost. The old systems we paid to be a part of didn't have the algorithmic tooling that shaped everything we see on the screen now. There were no feedback loops of "engagement metrics", no "content optimization" - just curated information catalogs and lots of little communities - like this one - that had their own quirks, their own trolls and blowhards and also real friendships and community. Niche interest sites - like this one- represent an echo of those older, purer and perhaps more naive days of the internet, and so many were abandoned in the last 10 years especially, along with our personal blogs and hobby web sites - all subsumed into the maw of "The Platforms" that held our gaze moment to moment.

But in 2020, something interesting happened. Perhaps weary of the rage-making machinery of the ad-driven social networks, or perhaps just wanting to find shelter from the eyes of the big platforms, there was a small - but noticeable - drift back to the old model - including paying for access to services and information. Small paywalls - a few dollars a month - are appearing on communities outside the big platforms, and it seems now we understand the true cost of "free" and are more willing to hand over the cost of a six-pack for a few months access to a small focused and friendly community. These "bonsai businesses" don't want to become the next billion dollar startup, they want to talk about cars, or baking, or furniture restoration or tractor repair - and that's it.

For publishers and readers, there's a path our of ad addiction now. A Scroll.com account makes it easy to strip ads out of web sites - without stripping the sites of their revenue. Your attention don't have to be just a revenue source to others. There are incredible new technologies in the works that will put a paywall around your personal data - turning your attention into actual money you will be paid to allow an ad into your attention.

So, that's why, here on this site, there's a return to the essentials - I'm back here now, so are others. Maybe it's now time to jettison all of that excess digital baggage we've hauled around in our heads for the last 10 years and get back into digital minimalism - the essential reasons we "went online" in the first place.

Well said! In many ways I still live in the "old days" of the net except with a faster connection. While I use email and stuff like that the only social media I use is YouTube...and of course, many old-school forums! It's like the last decade didn't happen for me, I don't use FB, Instagram, TikTok or whatever apps the cool kids are using. Forums have always been my favorite social media and I don't see that changing soon. So you folks are stuck with me!

Partially because of recent social media issues, I've stopped using most of those better known sites, and changed my browser and search engine to those that supposedly provide a bit more privacy and less advertising. Because of that I'm now disconnected from many "friends" - if I'd really call them that.

Most of my recent communication with immediate family is back to email and SMS text messages. Of course my mid-20's kids almost never use email.

I've never used YouTwitFace. I get alone well enough with email and a few forums populated with good people (like this one).

A friend used to use the generic all-encompassing term "Twitterbook".

It's very bizarre. Many people feel compelled to blurb out to the whole world for all eternity stuff that they wouldn't say to anyone in person. If they commit a crime, then they post incriminating evidence online, cuz "pic or it didn't happen," amirite?

You can use social media wisely. I've seen small-scale businesses use social media for business and for business only. No talk except business talk. Other people use social media to share baby pictures with actual real life friends and family and not with the rest of the world.

True.

During lockdowns, WhatsApp was the way to communicate with family members and relatives. Also, home delivery spiked for everything from medicine to gifts , all because social media nurtured small on-line businesses.