The lost art of digital scavenging

The techbros are putting us in a love/hate relationship with platforms. The thing about Zuckerberg being a bigot is that I was finally able to delete my long-lived instagram account. I also deleted my Twitter and even my Bluesky account recently as well. I’m somehow revolting against the recommendation algorithms (though I still use YouTube, due to the fact that there’s great content there still).

Leaving Instagram was bittersweet – a lot of friends and family were there. Of course, Jenny from high school needs to know that I’m alive and well and enjoying a Pisco Sour in Santiago.

But the thing about these social media is that they tried to paint the idea that they were the internet. In fact, in many countries, probably even Brazil, people think that whichever social media website is the internet. Ruled by algorithms. Short attention span. With “content” producers and influencers everywhere.

Many people even speculate that the internet is actually dead, due to the fact that many social media websites are being taken care by LLMs.

I was reading Amusing Ourselves to Death (back when my brain wasn’t completely fucked and fried by social media) and it talks about how we can’t really process information anymore due to the nature of the media. The book was written in the context of television, but I does fit pretty well our current landscape.

Doomscrolling and brainrotting was a real thing in these environments. However, since I lived the golden age of internet (where if you took the wrong turn you would end up on 4chan somehow), I know that social media is not internet.

The thing I love about the real internet is that there’s no recommendation algoriths or LLMs in the backbones of connection. You have to scavenge for content! You have to know how and what to google. You have to trust hyperlinks.

I remember spending hours in front of my computer browsing TV Tropes, for example. That was real internet, where people recommend what to do next (instead of machines).

Do you like this song? Maybe you should listen to this other one. Do you like this movie? Then you should pirate this one.

Talking about piracy, there’s a great thing about the enshittification of platforms – we were pushed to using Netflix-esque apps due to convenience. But now it’s so annoying and inconvenient, no matter how much you pay for it. So let’s go back to piracy! That’s how you discover great content!

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I deleted my Bluesky account, after spending countless hours online writing shit. In the first day, I caught myself reactivating my account constantly because of FOMO. On the second day, I was compensating the addiction and the lack of stimuli by watching a lot of Youtube videos. Then, I caught myself actually being creative and doing something – studying illustration, listening to music, dancing, downloading books and actually reading them, scavenging for zines and good content on the internet.

I feel amazing. I feel like I can finally continue consuming good content just like I did before the pandemic. Before my brain was fucked.

TL;DR there’s still good content out of social media. Our brains are fucked, but it’s reversible. Go read a good book.

Thanks!