For most technologies, humans react to it with enthusiasm and naivete. So, it happened with the internet. 15 years ago, millennials like me were posting selfies, blogs, tweets, on the internet. The thing was new and fun.
Overtime enshittification has taken hold. The internet which is now cloistered into private social networks seeks to rein you in with clickbait, influencers and crap to keep showing you ads . Your data is hostage and now its fodder for AI training.

While it felt nice to share reviews on Goodreads, provide reviews on IMDb; today it feels like I’m doing labour for free and for corporations that want to share none of its rewards. This is a symptom of a general failure in the creation of digital public goods. A restaurant review on Google should be part of a larger pool of reviews that people can access; not closed off behind a walled garden . The reviews are a public good that the company must license, not the other way around. Cab drivers should register on the driving app of the City / State and their presence then made available across all apps . Their ratings, reviews and wages should be tracked by city government; not handled by an unaccountable. I can keep on citing such failures.

Luckily for us, internet is still a very accessible technology. You can buy a mini-PC and store your data locally. You can rent a small server and host your own site . You can join a user supported network and open network like Mastodon.

The current state of affairs is saddening but the sparks of rebellion are alive. I personally hope to get all my posts, reviews, etc. out from other websites and host them myself.
Instead of submitting to your database & your rules; it’s time for my data, my database and my control. I want to share stuff with people but cut out the gluttonous middleman.