The future of the internet is in the past

Modern web dev is slick. Sites load faster, look better (but similar), and handle data more efficiently.

But that’s pretty much where my love for today’s internet stops.

Can we talk about how the big “decentralization” push lately kinda feels like we’re reinventing the wheel… but worse?

We’ve got all these new protocols (plural!) being hyped as the future, but they’re really just fragmented versions of stuff we already had. RSS, JSON feeds, open APIs… remember those? Still work. Still beautiful. Still simple.

It’s like:

The Old Web - Decentralized, a little messy - Then… RSS came along. APIs. Suddenly, websites could talk to each other. It was magic.

Then Came Social Media - Centralization. Everything in one feed, on one site. Easy, but owned.

Now? - We’re trying to go back to decentralization… but without a shared standard. Just a patchwork of protocols and a sprinkle of AI confusion on top.

How is this progress? It feels slower, more complicated, and honestly, kind of gatekeepy.

If you’re around 25 or younger, I totally get it. This might sound like nostalgia goggles. You didn’t live through the golden age of blogs, forums, and RSS feeds doing their quiet magic. But for those of us who did… this new version of “freedom” on the web feels like someone broke a working system, made it shinier, and forgot the soul.

Sometimes it feels like new devs are purposely trying to be extra fancy and invent a new protocol or blockchain whatever to try and invent the next big thing. Versus making what already worked better.