The Decay, Lucrative Vertigo of the Internet in 2024
The Internet in 2024: Decay, Lucre, and Vertigo
Is the internet dying? Culture critics weigh in on a year of fleeting trends, monetized authenticity, and a growing sense of unease.
The internet in 2024 feels like a whirlwind of fleeting trends, monetized authenticity, and a growing sense of unease. When asked to describe the online landscape in a single word, culture critics Jackson Weaver, CT Jones, and Samantha Cole offered starkly different, yet interconnected, perspectives: “decay,” “lucrative,” and “vertigo.”
Joining Elamin Abdelmahmoud on Commotion,the trio dissected these word choices,unpacking some of the year’s biggest internet stories,from the rise of “trad wives” to the enduring influence of Hawk Tuah.
The Trad Wife Trend: A Symptom of Deeper anxieties?
One trend that dominated online discourse this year was the “trad wife” aesthetic.Videos showcasing women embracing traditional gender roles – baking, homemaking, and promoting family values – gained traction, sparking debate about the motivations behind this resurgence.
“If you pull together the idea of trad wives, the idea of ‘very demure, very mindful,’ the idea of mob wife aesthetic…we are working through some gender stuff on the internet,” observed Abdelmahmoud.
CT Jones highlighted the economic anxieties fueling this trend. ”there’s a reason why we’re seeing quite luxury, old money aesthetic, while we’re seeing all of this trad wife content,” jones explained. “Because the focus on the internet right now is about money.”
For young women, the carefully curated images of domestic bliss presented by “trad wives” can be alluring, offering an escape from the realities of a challenging economic landscape.
The Decay of Truth and the Rise of the Bot
Jackson Weaver, who described the internet as experiencing “decay,” pointed to the proliferation of bots and AI-generated content as a key factor.
“The internet started as a way for us to navigate and source information, for humans to interrelate with one another,” Weaver said. “Now, because of exactly what CT was saying, the internet is a place to make money, and the best way to do that is to outsource your time to bots.”
This shift towards monetization, Weaver argues, has eroded the value of truth and genuine human connection.
“There’s this creeping disinterest in truth among a lot of people,” he lamented. “If you saw disinformation and misinformation in the past and you realized it was fake, you just had this implicit reaction of negativity like, ‘This is fake and that’s wrong implicitly.’ It’s wrong. But now,somebody says,’wow,this movie made $1 billion.’ Somebody will be like, ‘Actually, no, it made like 800,000.’ then they’ll be like, ‘Why do you care? Why are you fact checking me?’ This implicit removal of just the principle of wrongness or rightness being good or bad things has disappeared.”
Ephemeral Detritus and the Loss of Collective Memory
Samantha Cole echoed Weaver’s concerns about the fleeting nature of online content.
“We need people to remember how it was or be able to say, ‘This is not how it has always been. It’s not always been the case that Meta is so strict about sex stuff. It’s not always been the case that Twitter was full of neo-Nazis,'” Cole emphasized. “We’re losing a lot of that and that’s on purpose as, like Jackson said, we’re always moving. It’s built to keep your attention. To keep your attention, you have to constantly be refreshing and changing. So that combination is a little bit scary to me.”
the internet’s relentless churn, driven by algorithms designed to maximize engagement, leaves little room for reflection or critical analysis.
listen to the full discussion on Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud to delve deeper into these complex issues and explore the future of the internet.
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Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud is available on CBC Listen and wherever you get your podcasts.
Panel produced by Amelia Eqbal.
Is the Internet Dying? Experts Weigh In on a Year of “Decay, Lucre, adn Vertigo”
NewsDirectory3.com – The internet of 2024 feels like a labyrinth of fleeting trends, monetized authenticity, and a growing sense of unease. this year has seen a surge of viral fads evaporating as quickly as they appear, the commodification of personal experiences, and a pervasive feeling of disorientation.
To understand these shifts, we spoke with Dr. Alice Vance, a leading sociologist specializing in digital culture.
ND3: Dr. vance, many argue that the internet in 2024 feels like a decaying entity. Do you agree?
Dr. Vance: ItS not necessarily about decay,but rather a profound change. the initial promise of the internet – an open, democratised space for connection and information – is being overshadowed by commercial interests and inundation of content. We’re drowning in a sea of fleeting trends and performative authenticity, leading to a sense of superficiality and detachment.
ND3: You mentioned “monetized authenticity.” Can you explain what you mean?
Dr. Vance: Social media platforms, in particular, are increasingly blurring the lines between genuine self-expression and calculated marketing. Authenticity has become a commodity, with influencers profiting from carefully curated personas and sponsored content. This creates a climate where genuine connections feel increasingly difficult to forge.
ND3: There’s also a growing sense of “vertigo” associated with the internet in 2024. Can you elaborate on that?
Dr. Vance: Absolutely. The constant barrage of information, the relentless pursuit of virality, and the curated perfection presented online can create a sense of disorientation and anxiety. It’s a feeling of being constantly “on,” of needing to perform and keep up with an ever-shifting digital landscape. This can lead to exhaustion, burnout, and a feeling of being lost in the digital vortex.
ND3: What does the future hold for the internet?
Dr. Vance: It’s crucial that we critically engage with these trends and demand platforms that prioritize genuine connection, ethical data practices, and meaningful content. We need to reclaim the internet as a space for real human interaction and authentic self-expression,moving beyond the pursuit of fleeting trends and monetized authenticity.
Dr. Vance’s insights offer a glimpse into the complex and evolving landscape of the internet in 2024. It’s a year marked by both challenges and opportunities, a call to action for us to shape a more humane and sustainable digital future.