Capitalism ruined the internet (rant)

Not to kick a dead horse but oh my gods I'm sick and tired of the internet. 

I try to be positive and find enjoyment in how things are now because I know it's only going to get worse but I'm so tired, man. I find myself opening and closing the same three apps out of pure boredom. When I was younger, every platform was unique and had its own community. Granted, some could be difficult to get into as a newbie but it was fun! Most importantly it was genuine. 

These past few years, any niche or nerdy thing that we used to get bullied for being into has gotten turned into a TikTok trend. Yes, most of these nerdy things were popular even before TikTok, but it's not popularity that's the issue. It's those people suddenly getting into something so they can get views (and therefore, money), clogging up the community with shallow and manufactured content, causing price hikes, and then abandoning it when they can't milk it anymore.

This happened when Animal Crossing New Horizons came out; Nintendo Switches sold out everywhere (K.K. Bubblegum became so overplayed that it still haunts my nightmares) only for the community to end up dead a few months later when the trend wasn't giving them money anymore. Hell, even my own religion became a trend on TikTok.

Not only is this behaviour extremely wasteful, it makes it torture to find any normal content online for your interests if they fall victim to this. As a longtime fan of COD, RE and Mortal Kombat... you can imagine how trying to find other fans for these fandoms generally goes. They're always obsessed with one or two characters and just give you an awkward smile if you talk about any other character. The COD "fans" have never even played the game or watched a streamer/YouTuber who plays it.

And because of how fast and easy it is to post content on TikTok, trends are switching faster than ever. Influencers are running out of trends to post about. They need more fandoms, hobbies, items, etc to talk about than there physically exists.

I think a lot of us have this desperation for something new and unique. I miss going to a friend's house and finding a Nintendo game I'd never heard of in my life, or finding a new band on YouTube that literally only my friends on Amino knew about, or when a new gaming system would come out and we'd all be desperate to get it because it had insane new features. Most new technology is bland and "minimalist".

I'm looking at getting a smart flip phone and literally just using it for Spotify, SpaceHey, forums, and the Mirai Nikki diary app because I'm so tired of this shit. Take me back to 2016-2018 I'm begging you... The fact that this was 6-8 years ago is insane.