Relearning How To Use the Internet

[JamieKaye]

I've been completely restructuring my relationship with the internet. I deleted most apps off my phone, limiting social media strictly to Bsky, Tumblr, and instagram on computers only, setup Feedly and RSS to read blogs again, and chatting with my friends on Discord.

Just from the short time this forum has been alive, I've already been warmed by the nature of communal conversation. I knew I missed it, but underestimated how much more enriching it is.

The nature of the internet has been manic for a long while. Glad to reel it back in again to a state I enjoy.

It seems like a lot of people have been making these sort of changes lately. Have you been making any changes with your internet habits? Do you have any specific goals?

[mii]

I've been slowly doing this for the past couple years. Taking all socmed off your phone is a really great step! I limit internet browsing only to when I'm on my actual PC, where I have a lot of plugins that I use to curate my experience to limit ads, AI, and other garbage. I also have some plugins/scripts that I use to revert websites to much earlier appearances where necessary.

I'm not a big video person so if people send me videos or links to videos I tend not to watch them... please just give me something to read instead... I like being able to take my time. I miss the age of blogs and text communities a lot.

Limiting myself to only a few sites and only specific times of day doesn't really bother me. There isn't really anything so important on the internet that it cannot wait until I can read it on my own time and my own terms. Plus I really enjoy having more time to do things that I enjoy when I do get caught up.

[Ruby]

I've been doing the same for awhile now. The only social media that I still use is Mastodon, and I only rarely check that. But of course it's easier for me to disconnect from things since I'm not trying to get my art or other creative work out there.

When I have something that I want to share I mostly post it on my website and people either wander by and see it or don't, and that's ok. I had a little while where I was trying to follow RSS feeds using newsboat, but I kinda started to forget to check. Maybe getting it set up on my phone like you mentioned would be a better way! I really only use my phone for listening to podcasts, it's a glorified mp3 player.

If I had an ideal state/goal it would be to only ever check sites on Gopher, do all of my chatting through IRC, and if I *have* to view something on YouTube then download it through the terminal and not give their site any views. Is that realistic? No, but I can do some of those things some of the time, at least.

[mii]

Gopher? Now there's a protocol I haven't heard of in a looooong time.

Not to say that I disagree, but I find it fascinating. Oldschool beef with the rise of HTTP or a desire to return to the simpler times of early net? The only thing missing from your response is downloading movies from multi-part newsgroup posts.

Making me nostalgic for the early days, honestly.

[JamieKaye]

But of course it's easier for me to disconnect from things since I'm not trying to get my art or other creative work out there.

100% this ToT/ I actually wasn't using Instagram for a long while then people were asking me almost every day for my Instagram for my art. It's hard when you want to be accessible to fans and peers. But I want to focus on putting more of that energy on a local level, and people that would follow my work on a more unconditional level.

I'm not a big video person so if people send me videos or links to videos I tend not to watch them... please just give me something to read instead... I like being able to take my time. I miss the age of blogs and text communities a lot.

OH big same. Links to videos is like a sure way for me to not look at something. Backing off of microblogging sites has gotten me to enjoy reading longer form articles and such more. I'm loving reading Pittsburgh City Paper.

I still cannot get myself to read ebooks though lol. I have to read real physical books.

[Ruby]

Gopher? Now there's a protocol I haven't heard of in a looooong time.

Not to say that I disagree, but I find it fascinating. Oldschool beef with the rise of HTTP or a desire to return to the simpler times of early net? The only thing missing from your response is downloading movies from multi-part newsgroup posts.

Making me nostalgic for the early days, honestly.

I actually got back into Gopher a few years ago because somebody made a new implementation named Gemini that's very similar but with just a few minor text formatting options and support for TLS security (like https).

After using that for a while, well, Gopher is still out there and most of the Gemini browsers also supported Gopher since it's so similar. There's actually quite a few blogs on Gopher that are updated regularly, and I enjoy checking them. Text-only is a nice aesthetic, kind of like this forum!

And, I mean, is a torrent really so different from a multi-part newsgroup post, if you think about it?

[mii]

I still cannot get myself to read ebooks though lol. I have to read real physical books.

YEAHHH this is my curse too. I can try to read an ebook but it's just hard when it's not something I can hold physically. I don't mind reading long articles on websites, but when it comes to books my eyes just glaze over when it's not something I can hold in my hands.

I actually got back into Gopher a few years ago because somebody made a new implementation named Gemini that's very similar but with just a few minor text formatting options and support for TLS security (like https).

I'm actually very happy that there's a thriving Gopher community, that is awesome! Gemini looks interesting and I'm honestly excited to see people experimenting with other transfer protocols and making less crufty webs for people to use. This really feels like a good direction for the future.

And, I mean, is a torrent really so different from a multi-part newsgroup post, if you think about it?

Outside of the download posts being nestled in between posts of bad 90s internet humour, not so much. Perhaps it's sparing us that

Though I feel like I miss USENET the most. I wonder why I like forums so much... truly a mystery.

Looping back up, I do miss IRC mostly because it avoided a lot of the traps that other messaging services seem to be unable to fall into. I do have a friend that still uses it and has a small server for friends but catching anyone else in it was such a flash in the pan for me (time zones) that I fell out of logging onto it.

[Ruby]

Looping back up, I do miss IRC mostly because it avoided a lot of the traps that other messaging services seem to be unable to fall into. I do have a friend that still uses it and has a small server for friends but catching anyone else in it was such a flash in the pan for me (time zones) that I fell out of logging onto it.

IRC is great! One thing that's different about modern IRC is that you can leave yourself logged in 24/7 on your phone and just check it whenever you feel like it. This is a blessing in that you can keep track of what's going on in your favorite channels and be available for messages from friends. It's a curse because a lot of channels look like they have a ton of people in them but 99% of them are AFK. So now if you write a message you can expect a response...eventually...although sometimes people do still manage to chat back and forth.

If you diiiiid want to try IRC again sometime, the most popular server these days is irc.libera.chat, although all of the old classics are still around... Libera just has fewer trolls per square inch.

[mii]

IRC is great! One thing that's different about modern IRC is that you can leave yourself logged in 24/7 on your phone and just check it whenever you feel like it. This is a blessing in that you can keep track of what's going on in your favorite channels and be available for messages from friends.

I doubt I'd use it on my phone, but I'll keep that in mind. Persistence isn't a big deal for me - I don't really need to see what people were talking about while I was sleeping, lol. If something was noteworthy or important I'll get told about it one way or another. Getting the highlights from friends was half the fun when I'd log on after school.

Then I got sidetracked thinking about older services and if they are still around... fun times. What do you use to search Gopher nowadays?

[Ruby]

What do you use to search Gopher nowadays?

There are two major gopher search engines, the old, reliable Veronica II and a newer one called Quarry which is mostly what I use. They're primarily accessible through gopher, but there's a web proxy too if you just want to poke at it:
https://gopher.floodgap.com/gopher/gw?g ... u/1/quarry

As far as gopher sites that are worth visiting, here are some highlights (gopher urls):
someodd's blog/RPG game(!): gopher://gopher.someodd.zip/
baud.baby which is a cool punk-feeling blog: gopher://baud.baby/
sdf.org gopher club, a blog database: gopher://gopher.club/
The main gopher project site, lots of links: gopher://gopherproject.org
bitreich, some more links to resources: gopher://bitreich.org/

As for good gopher browsers (clickable links):
gopherus on the text console is probably my favorite, but not everyone loves the text-only console
Lagrange is the most popular and versatile, as it also browses gemini sites, can display images, etc.