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we were the first children to truly grow up WITH the invention of internet — there’s even a term for us now: “digital natives”
the elder bands of gen z (1998-2003 ish) has experienced both the beauty of the old “Wild West” decentralized internet of the early 2000s, while also coming into adulthood during the transition from “social networking” to “social media” — resulting in the mass consolidation and centralization of the internet we know now in 2025.
i think there is a persistent lack of feelings of “belonging” among this specific generational subset — not quite as detached from modern internet culture as our millennial counterparts seem to be, while still in mourning from how we remember digital connectivity and presence used to be.
the internet used to be a golden key of global connectivity and limitless self-expression, molding a culture to be more tolerant and connected with each year that passed — not the antisocial prison it seems to hold many of us in now, keeping us more distrustful and isolated than ever seen in recent history.
if my words resonate with anyone — elder gen z or not — please share your thoughts below
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Xavier
i totally vibe w this, born in 98
i'm a big proponent of the "zillennial" sub-generation, the year-on-year tech advances we saw growing up were part of a once in a century era imo
we were the last generation to have actual memories of a pre-social media world. crazy stuff
the tech advances were actually fun lol! not depressing. yes, its important we document and talk about what we remember so that it doesn't get lost in history among this "endless scroll" mindslop. (of which i am also victim to sometimes)
by adelita; ; Report
Possum
2003 here, and the way you described it is spot on. I was taught to use a computer from a young age and spent a lot of my childhood watching goofy videos on YouTube and playing flash games. The internet back then had a more.. home-made vibe to it all? There were companies and they had their own websites but it doesn't feel like they ran the place like it does today. Everything now feels sterile, minimal, corporate and 'safe' and tbh I hate everything about it.
Many of us do mourn the death of the old net, and though I love sites like this one and neocities.. nothing will ever bring us back to that point in time. We got the sites to replicate it but not the culture - people are too isolated, paranoid, divided, etc now and the modern net is to thank for that. Every social media feels like Twitter with the constant angry responses or threats over tiny things. I miss the days before algorithms, AI moderation, mass censorship, and content farms designed to get you hooked and lower your attention span.
thank you for your thoughtful reply. +++ on the "sterilization" of the internet and the "we got the sites to replicate it but not the culture".
the younger people on this site give me hope that there is a yearning for the internet culture we had back in the early 2000s, which is interesting to observe considering much of these kids weren't even alive to experience it. yet, they go out of their way to find it. a possible glimmer of hope that although things will never be the same, they don't always have to stay awful.
by adelita; ; Report
This comment and this post def resonate. 1999 here. I think there is something to be said for sure about how the changing internet landscape has affected culture more deeply. But my optimistic side wants to believe that the widespread desire for change felt on an individual level could drive things to change for the better. A lot of people are tired and feel like the internet is no longer serving them because of all these recent shifts and all the enshittification.
Unfortunately there's a thorny issue related to capitalism's influence on the functioning of the internet as well, though - it seems in my exp that the landscape has reached a point where it is very difficult for platforms like spacehey and the like to *survive*. I've seen this cycle over and over where I join wholesome platforms that emulate the vibe of the old internet (no ads, no selling data, no AI/algorithmic feeds, no attention engineering) and they always seem to eventually putter out. It's difficult to sustain funds to keep things running while going against the grain, it seems. I've loved spacehey so far, and I hope I don't watch it experience the same fate, but things do happen ):
Nonetheless, I try to opt into the optimistic mentality more. I fuck heavily with whatever school of thought pushes back against the modernities of the internet that aren't serving us...whatever that might be called, I'm not sure if it has a name. If not, we should make one. I like to believe that if we can continue to rally around these things and talk about them, maybe we will see change, even if only in small, localized ways. The worst thing we can do is become complacent, imo, because crappy people can and will continue to profit off of our acquiescence.
by frumpnuggets; ; Report
No problem! I too like the fact that the kids have had enough of the modern internet and yearn to go back, even to a time before theirs. I'm sure the movement will continue to grow and expand, and hopefully.. even if the internet never goes back to how it was before, there will be a bigger slice of it full of places like Spacehey that we can stick to. I'm staying optimistic.
by Possum; ; Report
Also platforms like these are hard to keep running, but I doubt Spacehey will suffer the same fate.. at least as it currently stands. I've only just joined recently but from what I've heard the site started off pretty slow but look at it now. There's millions of users (judging by Spacehey's friend list, who is automatically a friend when you create an account), and there's also tons of active users since there's new blogs being posted every few minutes or so. This site survives off donations but it seems to be doing very well currently.
I only suspect as the corporate push gets stronger and more demanding, the opposition will push back even harder. People are tired of the constant nonsense that goes on on the big platforms and the collective outrage at governments getting involved recently with all the ID stuff, more people now than ever are seeing the need for an 'internet reset' of sorts
by Possum; ; Report
Yeah, you're right. I do think the nostalgia element to this site helps a ton. The other sites I've been on didn't have that going for it. As long as people still value that, the donations should keep flowing. I just hope the internet won't price out the operational costs to keep this thing running - I'm sure what the admin get in donations isn't even close to what big name social media corps are getting in profits.
Hell yeah, I feel like I'm seeing a lot of things in the internet zeitgheist related to the pushback, too. There's a lot of talk about adopting offline hobbies, pushing back against hyperconsumption, and going analog the past couple years or so. I'm very much here for it, and I genuinely find it interesting how everyone seems to share this feeling of fatigue with hypertechnology and a yearning for simplicity and things that feel more real.
I just am trying to have faith at this point that the laws of consumer demand start to force some shift in the corporate hellscape that's emerged in the past few years, but I fear we might be past the time when meeting consumer needs/desires is what is most handsomely rewarded. Corporations seem to have figured out that exploitative and manipulative tactics tend to be more lucrative. That's the part that sucks. Idk if we will reach a breaking point where the pendulum swings back in the other direction and people stop buying bullshit, or if we are just screwed. I worry that human psychology can be too easy to exploit, unfortunately, but one can only hope to be wrong.
by frumpnuggets; ; Report
i have nothing to contribute other than enthusiastic head nods and multiple verbal "YUP, exactly" to this thread.
the horrors persist, BUT SO DO WE!!!
by adelita; ; Report
Well companies these days are less "what consumers want" and more "what we want".. that's why they're constantly making stupid decisions and insisting upon them no matter how much backlash they get. "The public doesn't like change" and or pretending that people are asking for something that no one is will only get you so far and it hurts businesses more than helps. One day they will learn this, again, but it's going to take some time. Corporations are all about capital and that involves profiting off of what people want and what people need.. take and give -- and if they see people in droves wanting simpler tech, eventually they'll get the memo and deliver. If you think about it, it's already kind of happening. Some new cars are bringing back physical buttons and knobs, Sony brought back the Walkman as a modern portable mp3 player, Polaroid still makes new cameras styled like old ones that use film, etc. Our generation's love for retro tech is actually somewhat being noticed.. so I suspect as time goes on maybe tech will ACTUALLY EVOLVE like it used to but stay simple. Tbh I'm glad I'm not the only one who is tired of useless feature creep lmao
by Possum; ; Report
And that's the spirit, adelita! Eventually we'll get there, may have to push a little but we'll get there. The public is already growing weary and exhausted over how the internet and technology is these days. People are even talking about the AI bubble popping, and from what I can see it looks like it might just be headed in that direction.. so here's hoping to a brighter future, and that's coming from someone who is more often than not pretty pessimistic lol
by Possum; ; Report
As an elder millennial, I'm so heartened by all these comments. I feel so similarly. I think we're all feeling this fatigue & overwhelm with the digital world & our culture being crumpled by the fist of capitalism. I DO think the tide will turn our way with enough pushing & rejection of everything they offer. I think the cultural rejection will be really important, it needs to be made extremely uncool LMFAO (the band) to engage with what they want us to engage with. I have hope bc all of the counter-cultural things being made rn are VERY VERY COOL
by kathryn; ; Report
I've heard discourse about engaging with these things being "uncool" already, or the opposite thing being cool - being offline is trendy now, apparently. I had no idea about all the stuff Possum listed, but that's so heartening to hear. I just wonder if it will last or be a fleeting trend, but it seems to be a broader pattern that's emerged over the past few years.
I am enthusiastically head nodding along, adelita. Lol. It's really profoundly comforting and validating to see other people feeling the same way and I hope it's a sign of good things to come.
Sorry if this comment is just me repeating myself over and over, but I am enjoying this energy and discourse :3
by frumpnuggets; ; Report
I agree, kathryn. We just gotta keep the push going and eventually companies will follow and give us what we want. Rarely ever has "damn the customers, we do what we want" been a good business strategy.. and I can't even think of any examples of that ever working. As for the cultural side of things, I can't speak for everyone but some modern tech and trends are pretty lame to me. I'm not one to adopt new stuff right away, and sometimes I may never adopt it at all depending on what it is. I don't buy new phones every year like some people do, I buy one and keep it for as long as I can until it's no longer useful to me or it breaks. I do have a new game console (That I bought for 2 games, 1 of which isn't out yet) but these days I much prefer using the PC I built. I don't listen to mainstream new music, the new music I listen to is pretty niche and I set time aside to dig for it. When you live life not following mainstream culture and trends, but making your own unique culture, life is a lot more enjoyable and even though I will always say the 2020s SUCK.. because I'm making my own memories of what this decade is, it makes it much easier to bear. I just hope other people will join me in that lol, and it seems to be headed there. We gotta give this decade something to remember it by before it ends, and a technological/cultural reshift would be just the thing
by Possum; ; Report
Also you're onto something there, frumpnuggets - I mean we live in an time where "chronically online" is a valid insult/critique that didn't exist a few years ago lmao. There's def a shift going on where having your face in a phone or in social media is seen as the bad-for-you-in-excess activity it truly is, where in the past you were seen as lame if you didn't have a Facebook account, or Instagram account, or TikTok account, or whatever was popular in that point in time. Only time will tell if the tech stuff is a fleeting trend or not, but it does beg the question! I'm sure if these things are profitable and people enjoy it, we might see more modern renditions of retro stuff (Like REAL modern improvements on retro tech, not just feature bloat).
I agree with both of y'all, better yet all of y'all lol. It's good to meet and talk to people who feel the same way when it comes to this stuff. Sometimes it feels like you're crazy, you know? Like you're the only person out there who feels this way.. but just because no one near you may feel like this, there's a whole world of folks out there who do! And no need to apologize, I'm really enjoying this conversation as well. It's a very fun topic to discuss :)
by Possum; ; Report