Isn't it odd how, despite the fact that the Internet is bigger than it's ever been, and continues to grow each and every day… it somehow feels a lot smaller than it did back when it was shiny and new?
This is how I feel, anyway, even if you don't agree. But I often find myself very conscious of the fact that I, like many other people, tend to just default to "the rotation" of a few sites over and over rather than exploring the many weird, wonderful and dark places the Internet has to offer.
I remember back in the late '90s when we were all just starting to get up and running with dial-up Internet via service providers like AOL and CompuServe, and computer and gaming magazines would have specific features each month on what websites were worth visiting. I remember PC Zone highlighting a variety of interesting early modding sites and community forums… and Escape providing a comprehensive listing of where to find free pornography. (Out of curiosity, I checked to see if Persian Kitty still exists the other day… and it does! It even looks pretty much the same as it did back in 1997, albeit with a few more ads and some sort of cam site attached to it now.)
At that time, the Internet was exciting; you'd hear from someone that it was possible to, say, read a full classic book for free, so you'd go and check that out. You'd be lured in with ambitious promises of "virtual tours" of various locations, only to discover it was little more than a gallery of grainy JPEGs. And occasionally, you'd catch a glimpse of the earliest days of people using the Internet to express themselves freely through creative writing; something we all take for granted today.
It's a bit sad to me that a lot of that wonder is gone, and trawling around the grand loop of those same few sites you check every day without really caring what's on any of them has become the default for a lot of people.
That said, the one time I do feel like I break out of this cycle somewhat is when I have the WordPress Reader open in front of me, and I have the opportunity to check out all the amazing things my talented friends and acquaintances have been doing lately. And finding a cool new blog to follow gives me just a hint of that old wonder that used to be a regular occurrence.
Perhaps we should all make a bit more of an effort to explore the Internet as a whole a bit more. There are many strange and wonderful things out there, after all!
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