Surfing the internet seems synonymous with doomscrolling. Both take place online. Both time consuming. But do you remember when you last you lost track of time, clicking through related links on a random wikipedia page? The last time I scrolled on TikTok was a couple minutes ago.
It’s simple, why we don’t surf the internet anymore:
We let algorithms feed us content
Our phones are much easier access than our computers (if you’re a die hard wikipedia-desktop-view-er like myself)
Finding rabbit holes to click through is tough, when everything is AI-summarized
We’re forgetting how great a late night surf is!!!
Google’s search summaries beat the already dead horse that is internet surfing
Every internet experience needs to be frictionless, ideally a big button on a single-scroll page. Gone are the days where blogs glow with hyperlinks (Wikipedia and Vox’s explainer approach to publishing are happy exceptions).
AI-generated search summaries asphyxiates the serendipitous nature of an internet surf: you’re not scavenging through troves of articles to find your answer, so you’re not exposing yourself to the other weird sh*t that’ll greet you along the way.
This forces the internet surf to be an intentional endeavor. It adds friction to the exercise. Where do you start? Where can I find related links? The effort required far supersedes the mindless, gentle thumb bending motion TikTok (worse, Reels) requires.
Where algorithms offer up what you consume next on social media, the internet requires constant introspection: is this interesting to me? which part do I want to learn more about? Small, incremental decisions, crap SEO, and expired links often take me somewhere unexpected. It makes surfing feel refreshingly adventurous.
The idea of brain food emerges as brain rot is normalized.
Curation is widely regarded as the antidote to the algorithm. I think, it’s just a way to get started: postcards by elle compiled a list of fun wikipedia pages that can keep you busy for hours, Elan of
wrote about the wonderful world of alternative search engines, my friend and wrote a syllabus on how to walk the internet…I, myself went down a series of rabbit holes this week:
Stewart Brand’s Whole Earth Archive — a collection of magazines published between the 60s and 70s that championed DIY tech culture, printing everything from build-your-own-oven instructions to anti-tech poetry. Steve Jobs called it “Google before Google existed.”
Cypherpunks (manifesto) — the movement that inspired Bitcoin
Laurel Schwulst’s Are.na — two word poems, e-ink devices, indie sites
The forest — click to find out ;)
Stop scrolling on your phone and lose yourself on the internet. I remember most of what I’ve found clicking through ominous links at early hours. I don’t recall much of what I see on TikTok. A quick reminder on how to surf:
Sift through related links
Search for the author’s other works
Look up interesting words you encounter as you read
Try
(for those less inclined to put in the work)
Scour those questionable subreddits! Delete your cookies regularly!
**** This post is dedicated to the death of StumbleUpon — my favourite Chrome plugin t`hat once helped me surf the web and now lives on in a format that looks (and functions) exactly like TikTok. RIP.