my childhood in the 2010s was heavily influenced by the net, especially sites and games like club penguin ( 💔) and those horror puzzle sites that i was almost certainly too young for. i learned a lot of my humor and speech patterns from the memes and trends at that time, coupled with shows like victorious and icarly.
for instance, i have a distinct memory of, for about a two month period, doodling nyan cat EVERYWHERE. in my notebooks, on my arms and hands, there is even a little carved nyan on our kitchen table. i also said "and i oop-" in pretty much every scenario you could think of. it pissed my mother off.
i remember my family had one of those old ass y2k computers, which was covered in stickers and stains. we didn't have a tv for nearly 2 years after our old one broke, so i used the shitty monitor to watch adventure time on pirate sites.
wanted, dead or alivei have often heard it said that the internet is “dead”, and while it was definitely BETTER when i was young, i don't think that's true. we can't give up the ghost, not yet.
what IS dead internet theory?
dead internet theory is a popular theory: that the original joy and creativity of the internet is gone, that social media sites have cut the wires and stolen the pulse of digital safe places we used to have. in my opinion, the theory is very pessimistic and especially nostalgia-centric. i don’t think we should decide the golden years of the ‘net are over and never to return.