>>5551606>>5551609It's not just the internet, but the thing the internet turned into. In the 90s and early 2000s, if you were online much you were still a geek. Things were simpler, websites were simpler, and it wasn't a "necessity" like many see it as today.
Smartphones and social media changed all of that. Now, your average eight year old girl spends more time online on a computer (her phone) than the most hardcore usenet turbonerds of the 90s. The push to always "like, share, smash that subscribe button" has turned people into bigger narcissists than they ever were. People have always had the chance to use the internet as an opinion platform - personal websites and blogs were rare among the common people, but still present.
But now that it's in vogue to carry around a GPS tracker in your pocket 24/7 and update four massive publicly-visible databases with all your interests, your associates, and every last detail of your life - multiple times per day, reinforced by physical addiction - it's a whole new world.
If you can't tell, I'm probably the last person left under the age of 85 who uses a flip-phone by choice and has never used social media. And I'm a software developer, which means that I really confuse and upset my coworkers.
