Yesterday my girlfriend complained to me about the flood of AI generated videos in her instagram feed. Her frustration made me think about how much of what we see online today no longer feels real. That reminded me of something I stumbled on a while ago. The Dead Internet theory , which is a "conspiracy" theory that the internet is mainly bots creating and managing content. What makes it a conspiracy theory is the claim that this is all part of a coordinated effort to manipulate people.
Even if the theory might go a bit too far for my taste, it does touch something real. These days, the internet does feel "deader" than before. The internet used to feel chaotic, weird, alive. Now it just feels auto-generated. You open social media and it is all there. Cloned voices, deepfaked faces, physics-defying movement, hands with too many fingers. Some are funny, even charming. But others feel subtly manipulative. Or worse, deeply unsettling. Several make me question the future of humanity, or at least the future of the internet.
It is not just social media. AI junk is everywhere now. You can easily spot it on news websites too. Low effort, AI-written articles with clunky phrasing and lack or originality. And of course, the headlines that are pure click-bait. Dramatic and vague.
I don't feel like spending much more time surfing1 the internet as I used to. It makes me want to close the browser and do something analog. I miss content that is less synthetic, I miss the awkward and inspiring. There’s a slow but growing push to revive a more social, personal internet. With all its weirdness and personality. I recently discovered through Robb Knight's post, The Internet Is Cool Actually, the Good Internet Magazine, which consequently made me fall in a rabbit hole. I discovered the Indie Web with its connection of independent and personal websites, and many other communities of personal/indie websites, like 32bit Cafe. It gave me a feeling I hadn’t had in years. That sense of open-ended curiosity and excitement. Exploring the internet without having an algorithm breathing down your neck.
Somehow, this random link ended up taking over my whole afternoon. Each click drops you into someone else's digital corner. I spent the next couple of hours exploring personal websites full of side projects, niche interests, and blog posts about everything and nothing. This afternoon, I felt like I was 15 again. Blogging on my old Blogger site2, reading friends’ posts, getting lost in rabbit holes, joining conversations in forums. Those discoveries reminded me why I started blogging in the first place. To connect, to share, to be human online. Make the internet more human again. Post, share, connect. Reach out to the people that you read online. Let's keep the heartbeat of the internet.