My internet throughout the decades

I have used the internet in four different decades! Some of the experiences that I've had in each decade might echo everyone else's. Some of them might differ vastly. Elements of earlier decades have also occasionally trickled into the more recent ones! In fact, one of those elements has even experienced a revival, i.e. the personal website :)

📜 1990s

• a library of digital books which you could "permanently borrow"
  • content via entering URLs, before "news feeds"
  • the static (personal) website and beginnings of blogging
  • no personality, just "surfing random websites"
  • trying to "form a web presence"

💻 2000s

• a contemporary art gallery of random emotional expression
  • the "reverse chronological blog feed"
  • the hosted blog and the beginnings of social media
  • anonymous "role-playing" + constant username-changing
  • trying to "get more hits and followers"

📲 2010s

• a social hangout and popularity contest
  • the "algorithmic social media feed"
  • the full height of terminally online social media
  • semi-anonymous role-playing + "alt-accounting" + constant username-changing
  • trying to "go viral" but failing all the time

🗄️ 2020s

• an information toolbox and filing cabinet
  • the "carefully-curated and infrequent e-mail newsletters"
  • the gradual abandonment of social media
  • ...and the revival of a personal website
  • more stability + less anonymity + less care about identity and interaction
  • cautious skepticism but adoption of "generative pre-trained transformers" (or "AI" to the layperson)
  • trying to get organized instead of "discovered"

⚙️ 2030s and beyond?

• continued maintenance of the information toolbox and filing cabinet
  • retrieval of information outside of desktop or mobile devices?
  • the total abandonment of social media (except private chats)?
  • more focus on "the blog" (or "personal knowledge cloud")?
  • possible automation of many, if not most or all, processes?
  • not trying: just existing and learning?