Are you tired of the Internet?

Of course you are. It has become bad.

Even people who are too young to remember the good internet are aware the current state of the web is unpleasant.

The places that people visit most when they log on are the places where attention-seeking algorithms create addictive cycles that emotionally disregulate them. The places where we are meant to connect to each other are the places where misinformation runs rampant and negativity drives engagement while driving us apart.

We can change the way we feel on the web by changing the algorithms within ourselves.

Every time we want to spend time online, we have the choice to browse the web without going to a "personalized" feed. We have the choice to forgo the passive experience of being fed to the active experience of foraging. We have the choice to garden, and sustain ourselves on the fruits of our own labor! It is a small amount of effort to begin, and a little less every time after, to choose a more active web experience. Due to the normalization of the expectation that we can click our way to immediate gratification or stimulation, it can feel unintuitive to explore on our own to find a more satisfying reward. In the same way that we have to build skills to find books, movies, tv shows, music, and games to engage with, we must also build skills to find worthwhile ways to spend time online. We can find that the most meaningful ways to discover our new favorite things are through other human beings, friends and family, or kindered spirits in the form of online strangers. Although an algorithm might be able to recommend something that is popular or fits into our existing tastes, finding things that are niche, new, and challenging is much more difficult.

We can trust that we as human beings have better intentions for one another than corporations, and those who take the time to handcraft experiences for others are worth our time.