#internetculture — Public Fediverse posts

Tech giants know honesty can cost billions. Do we trust them with the truth?
By Cam Wilson

Mandating disclosure rather than trusting the AI companies behind the technology could save them from their own worse impulses. And maybe it'll save us, too.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-07/meta-facebook-mark-zuckerberg-ai-safety-disclosure/107122950

#SocialMedia #InternetCulture #Internet #InformationandCommunication #MentalHealth #ComputerScience #ScienceandTechnology #CommunityandSociety #Health #MobilePhones #CamWilson

ABC News: White House launches Arcade.gov with computer game that lets players ‘deport’ migrants. “The White House announced the launch of what it called “Arcade.gov,” a website of five versions of classic computer games promoting the president’s agenda. The games include ‘Flappy Bill,’ ‘Build the Wall,’ ‘Rio Run,’ ‘Supply Line’ and ‘Trump Savings Tycoon.’ One of the games, ‘Rio Run,’ a […]

I was addicted to optimising my life, but it didn't make me happier

I was hooked by the idea that my lack of happiness and fulfilment in the present moment could be fixed if I just got better at my life.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-07/optimising-perspective-lifestyle/106962380

#MentalWellbeing #InternetCulture

[Tech Thoughts] The tightrope walk between online safety and draconian laws

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.rappler.com/technology/features/tech-thoughts-tightrope-walk-online-safety-draconian-laws/

TechCrunch: Judge blocks X rival from using Twitter name, but allows ‘Tweet’ for now. “The story of the Virginia-based startup isn’t really about building something unique; it’s about a company trying to get its hands on abandoned trademarks that X relinquished. Even the homepage for the company clearly states its purpose is to go back and pick up what Elon Musk dropped when he renamed […]

Retail Gazette: Lush launches campaign highlighting harm caused by social media. “Lush is looking to spotlight the harm caused by big social media platforms in its new campaign, which is now live across all of its stores in the UK, EU, USA and Canada. The retailer left the major social media platforms, Snapchat, X, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook almost five years ago. And since then, the […]

Retail Gazette: Lush launches campaign highlighting harm caused by social media. “Lush is looking to spotlight the harm caused by big social media platforms in its new campaign, which is now live across all of its stores in the UK, EU, USA and Canada. The retailer left the major social media platforms, Snapchat, X, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook almost five years ago. And since then, the […]

Retail Gazette: Lush launches campaign highlighting harm caused by social media. “Lush is looking to spotlight the harm caused by big social media platforms in its new campaign, which is now live across all of its stores in the UK, EU, USA and Canada. The retailer left the major social media platforms, Snapchat, X, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook almost five years ago. And since then, the […]

Retail Gazette: Lush launches campaign highlighting harm caused by social media. “Lush is looking to spotlight the harm caused by big social media platforms in its new campaign, which is now live across all of its stores in the UK, EU, USA and Canada. The retailer left the major social media platforms, Snapchat, X, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook almost five years ago. And since then, the […]

Retail Gazette: Lush launches campaign highlighting harm caused by social media. “Lush is looking to spotlight the harm caused by big social media platforms in its new campaign, which is now live across all of its stores in the UK, EU, USA and Canada. The retailer left the major social media platforms, Snapchat, X, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook almost five years ago. And since then, the […]

Spotted in my RSS feeds: a Chrome extension called Retake the Lake. (This link goes to a GitHub repository. Here is the extension in the Chrome Web store.) “This is a (hopefully temporary) extension for Chrome browsers that corrects ‘Lake America’ to ‘Lake Ontario’ in two ways.”

Spotted in my RSS feeds: a Chrome extension called Retake the Lake. (This link goes to a GitHub repository. Here is the extension in the Chrome Web store.) “This is a (hopefully temporary) extension for Chrome browsers that corrects ‘Lake America’ to ‘Lake Ontario’ in two ways.”

Spotted in my RSS feeds: a Chrome extension called Retake the Lake. (This link goes to a GitHub repository. Here is the extension in the Chrome Web store.) “This is a (hopefully temporary) extension for Chrome browsers that corrects ‘Lake America’ to ‘Lake Ontario’ in two ways.”

Spotted in my RSS feeds: a Chrome extension called Retake the Lake. (This link goes to a GitHub repository. Here is the extension in the Chrome Web store.) “This is a (hopefully temporary) extension for Chrome browsers that corrects ‘Lake America’ to ‘Lake Ontario’ in two ways.”

Spotted in my RSS feeds: a Chrome extension called Retake the Lake. (This link goes to a GitHub repository. Here is the extension in the Chrome Web store.) “This is a (hopefully temporary) extension for Chrome browsers that corrects ‘Lake America’ to ‘Lake Ontario’ in two ways.”

Gothamist: TikTok is the new 311: New Yorkers tag Mayor Mamdani on social media for help. “Mamdani is being inundated with online requests for IRL fixes. The videos, which have become a meme on TikTok, show people begging Mamdani to take action on everything from mundane nuisances — like potholes and leaky subway stations — to more existential challenges like finding love. The requests have […]

if you call yourself a golden retriever, people may say sit

https://tacobout.online/2026/09/05/golden-retriever-boyfriend-dating-profile-archetype/

CNBC: South Korea’s AI rally is reshaping romance, reality shows and academic preferences. “South Korea’s AI stock rally is rapidly transforming different corners of the country’s society ranging all the way from romance to academics. In Korea’s dating scene, professionals such as physicians, lawyers and judges, have traditionally been the most sought-after. Now the preferences are […]

Rolling Stone: 25 Most Influential Creators of 2026. “This year, you may notice that we left off some of the highest-ranking creators from past lists. That’s because their empires have made content largely an afterthought — if you have a $100 million Amazon show or a $500 million media company, do you still really count as a creator? Instead, we focused on those who have become industry […]

I sometimes think that some executive came up with the idea of getting perfectly reasonable people to behave like imbeciles as a wager — and then everyone forgot to remove the requirement.

#YouTube #Clickbait #YouTubeCreators #ContentCreators #CreatorEconomy #SocialMedia #DigitalMedia #OnlineContent #MediaCriticism #InternetCulture #YouTubeThumbnails #ContentMarketing #Humour #Satire #TTMO

Deadline: SXSW Launching Podcast Festival In 2027. “SXSW is expanding with the addition of a dedicated podcast festival in 2027, festival organizers announced on Tuesday. This positions Podcasts a core element of the SXSW experience, alongside Film & TV, Music, Comedy, and the Innovation Conference.”

Associated Press: As AI grips world, the thrill of collecting vintage computers is growing. “While Silicon Valley has since moved on to shaping the future of artificial intelligence, these hardware enthusiasts are intent on saving the Atari, Commodore and IBM machines that are ancestors to today’s laptops, wearable devices and smart phones. Where others see junk, people like [Josh] Dersch see […]

World Wide Web Day

La Giornata Mondiale del Web (World Wide Web Day) cade ogni anno il 1º agosto e celebra la nascita e l’impatto planetario del World Wide Web, il sistema di navigazione inventato da Tim Berners‑Lee tra il 1989 e il 1991 al CERN. È un’osservanza non ufficiale, senza un fondatore riconosciuto né un organismo che l’abbia istituita formalmente: esiste perché la comunità del web ha iniziato spontaneamente a celebrarla.

La Giornata Mondiale del Web, nasce… senza che nessuno abbia mai ammesso di averla inventata. Una festa spontanea, anarchica, globalissima, che ogni 1º agosto ci ricorda quanto il Web abbia rivoluzionato le nostre vite — dal primo “Ciao mondo” su un forum al meme che ci ha fatto ridere alle 3 di notte.

La data è curiosa: non coincide con nessuno dei momenti storici documentati del Web, che invece sono tutti registrati con precisione svizzera. Il primo sito è del 6 agosto 1991, la proposta originale del Web è del 12 marzo 1989, la liberazione del software in pubblico dominio è del 30 aprile 1993. Ma il 1º agosto? Un mistero. Nessun documento, nessun annuncio, nessun atto ufficiale. Eppure, eccola lì: celebrata ogni anno.

Chi ha deciso questa giornata?

La risposta più chic è: nessuno, e quindi tutti. Non esiste un fondatore registrato, né un’organizzazione che l’abbia proclamata. È una festa nata dal basso, come una pagina web che diventa virale senza SEO, senza sponsor, senza pianificazione. Una celebrazione collettiva, democratica, perfettamente in linea con lo spirito del Web stesso.

Quando si è festeggiata la prima volta?

Qui la storia diventa ancora più intrigante: non esistono tracce della ricorrenza prima del 2008. Il Web, che documenta tutto, non documenta la nascita della sua festa. Una vera ironia cosmica.

💡 Perché proprio il 1º agosto?

Le teorie più divertenti che circolano tra gli internauti:

• La teoria del “post estivo”: agosto è il mese in cui il mondo rallenta, e forse qualcuno ha pensato: “Festeggiamo il Web quando tutti hanno tempo per navigare senza sensi di colpa”.
• La teoria del bug: qualcuno avrebbe confuso la data del primo annuncio pubblico del Web (6 agosto 1991) con il 1 agosto. Una svista? Un refuso? Un errore di copia-incolla? Possibile.
• La teoria del romanticismo digitale: il Web è stato reso pubblico gratuitamente nel 1993. Forse il 1 agosto è stato scelto per ricordare la generosità di CERN, che ha regalato al mondo la tecnologia più rivoluzionaria del secolo.

Nessuna teoria è confermata. E questo, ammettiamolo, rende la festa ancora più affascinante.

🧬 Un Web nato “vague but exciting”

Il Web nasce ufficialmente nel 1989, quando Tim Berners‑Lee consegna al suo manager un memo intitolato “Information Management: A Proposal”. Il manager annota: “Vague but exciting”. E aveva ragione: da quella vaghezza è nato il sistema che oggi muove miliardi di persone, idee, aziende, sogni e gattini.

Tra il 1990 e il 1991 Berners‑Lee e Robert Cailliau sviluppano:

• HTML
• HTTP
• URL
• il primo browser/editor
• il primo server
• il primo sito: info.cern.ch (6 agosto 1991)

Il resto è storia — e una storia che continua a scriversi ogni giorno.

🌍 Curiosità dal mondo

• In Giappone, alcuni programmatori celebrano il 1º agosto creando mini‑siti effimeri che durano solo 24 ore: “come il Web, ma in versione origami”.
• In Brasile, gruppi di sviluppatori organizzano maratone di coding in spiaggia. Tastiere, sabbia e caipirinhas: la triade perfetta.
• In Germania, c’è chi festeggia visitando il primo sito della storia, restaurato da CERN, come fosse un museo digitale.
• In Italia, molti web designer celebrano la giornata aggiornando il proprio portfolio — perché il Web è eterno, ma il design no.
• Negli Stati Uniti, alcuni nostalgici passano la giornata navigando solo siti anni ’90: GIF sgranate, sfondi stellati e font improbabili. Una vera esperienza vintage.

🎉 Come festeggiare oggi (alla maniera Perfettamente Chic)

• Crea una pagina web minimalista e poetica, dedicata a un ricordo digitale.
• Pubblica il tuo primo meme autoprodotto.
• Naviga un sito che non hai mai visitato.
• Ringrazia mentalmente Tim Berners‑Lee per aver reso possibile tutto questo.
• E soprattutto: concediti un momento di meraviglia davanti al fatto che il Web, nato da un memo “vague but exciting”, oggi è il luogo dove viviamo metà delle nostre vite.

✨ In Conclusione?

La Giornata Mondiale del Web è una festa senza fondatore, senza regole, senza protocollo. È la celebrazione di un’idea che ha cambiato il mondo e che continua a farlo ogni giorno. È una ricorrenza spontanea, libera, aperta — proprio come il Web.

E forse è questo il suo vero significato: ricordarci che la bellezza del Web sta nella sua capacità di unire, sorprendere, divertire e, sì, anche confondere un po’.

Autore: Lynda Di Natale
Fonte: web
Immagine: AI

One of my favorite internet rituals is finding someone's personal blog through a single comment they left somewhere years ago. A trail of breadcrumbs leading to a whole digital world someone built just because they wanted to. Makes the web feel like an actual place again. #IndieWeb #PersonalBlogs #InternetCulture

Gizmodo: One of Wikipedia’s Cofounders Banned From the Site Over Influence Campaigns. “After years of criticism and complaints about the direction of the site, Larry Sanger, one of Wikipedia’s cofounders, has been banned from editing articles. Sanger was indefinitely blocked from editing privileges on Wikipedia after volunteer editors accused him of violating the site’s rules by trying to […]

Search Engine Land: Bruce Clay, the Father of SEO, has passed away. “Bruce Clay, known as the Father of SEO, sadly passed away in late May. Bruce Clay was one of, if not the, founding father of the SEO industry, starting a real professional SEO agency back in 1996. He was the first sponsor of the first SEO conference, ever and he has given more of his time, resources and money to the creation […]

A blog post from Language Hat pointed me toward a newish (launched earlier this year) web directory that’s been organizing the small/vintage web: Early Web Links. From the About page: “I don’t think the personal web is dead. It’s just scattered and hidden. Early Web Links is my attempt to do something about that. It crawls the web looking for personal, independent, and handmade websites and […]

Backrooms' Biggest Scare Is Capitalism

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://aftermath.site/backrooms-movie-parsons-youtube/

The Absolute Rage Induced by “K.”

https://jaimedavid.blog/2026/05/22/23/40/08/analysis/jaimedavid327/10962/the-absolute-rage-induced-by-k/

Survey suggests sexting is changing modern relationships

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://nerds.xyz/2026/05/sexting-modern-relationships-survey/

Reuters: Kremlin acknowledges criticism after blogger warns Putin ‘squeezed’ Russians could erupt. “The Kremlin took the unusual step of publicly acknowledging sharp criticism of the authorities from a celebrity blogger on Thursday, saying work was under way to ‌address a slew of problems identified by social media influencer Viktoria Bonya.”

Tubefilter: On new channel, Technoblade’s dad will sustain his son’s lasting impact. “To meet the ongoing demand for more content, Alex’s father is taking ‘Technoblade never dies’ literally. The man known as Technodad has launched a new channel called Team Technoblade, which he will use ‘as a way of keeping my boy’s memory alive.'”

Spotted in my RSS feeds: https://youraislopbores.me/. Larp as an AI and ask questions of other humans larping as an AI.

What’s On Netflix: Stranger Things Radio Station ‘WSQK: The Squawk’ Archived by Fan After Going Offline . “Missed out on the live broadcast from Hawkins? A dedicated fan has archived the entire run of the Stranger Things Season 5 promotional radio station, WSQK, ensuring the 80s tunes and some hidden lore updates live on.”

Ah yes, the triumphant return of personal blogs, because we all missed those riveting tales of lunch sandwiches and cat escapades. 🥪🐱 Now, let's debate the renaissance of niche blogs—because the internet clearly doesn't have enough specialized drivel yet. 📚✨
https://disassociated.com/personal-blogs-back-niche-blogs-next/ #personalblogs #nichecontent #blogrenaissance #internetculture #storytelling #HackerNews #ngated

The Sweet Spot Of IMDb Is 6.3-7.6

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://aftermath.site/imdb-review-scale-bad-broken

So, personally, I think the problem started when parents started using television sets as babysitters. And yeah. I had a TV (black and white) in my room at probably too young an age, and a landline when I was 16. Nowadays, I use a computer when I want to go online, and only use my smartphone for important calls/texts, and identifying birds and plants. I don't understand folks who are staring at their phones 24/7, and ignoring the world around them. It's been going on for a while now...

When Kids Are Addicted to Their Phones, Who is to Blame?

By Kathryn Jezer-Morton
Mar. 30, 2024

Excerpt: "While reading #JonathanHaidt’s recent long, evidence-filled manifesto in The Atlantic, 'End the Phone-Based Childhood Now,' I began to think about how this line of thinking has become costly to ignore. (Haidt’s book on which the article is based, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, came out on March 26.) He argues that indicators of childhood well-being in developed nations began precipitously decreasing at exactly the same time that smartphones became widely available. He argues, thoroughly, that these falling indicators can’t be linked to any one nation’s problem — instead, it’s the common denominator we all share. It’s not America and its guns. It’s not South Korea and its pressure on young people to test into professions. It’s everywhere, and it’s the phones.

"There is nuance to Haidt’s evidence, even though it is overwhelmingly making a simple, unambiguous argument. He identifies two entwined causes of the decline in young people’s mental health and well-being: parents’ increased protectiveness of their children and children’s increased access to smartphones. It’s not the fault of video games or even social media per se. (Millennials came of age with video games with no measurable harm done, and younger millennials came of age with social media in the desktop era — no lasting scars but for the embarrassing Facebook pics from 2007.) The problem is in the mobility of the technology. It’s the affordances of privacy and portability, and the access to these affordances, that parents have given their children.

"Ultimately, what Haidt is implying, with the utmost tact, is that we parents need to start acting differently. Our kids’ reliance on mobile devices to pass the time starts long before high school, and it coalesces into an unshakeable habit under our watch — or, rather, while our gaze is averted and we’re looking at our phones. No legislation, no industry-oversight panel, is going to help us. Apple’s and Google’s executives know enough to withhold mobile devices from their kids, but they’re not going to stop selling them to ours.

"What Haidt doesn’t say is that parents can’t change their kids’ relationships with their phones and tablets without also addressing their own. Criticizing parents is very treacherous for any public figure, so it’s understandable that Haidt would avoid doing so.

"People with very strong opinions about parenting are usually pushing a skewed ideological agenda and are best ignored. A 'screen-free childhood'? Sounds precious. No thanks! Haidt may be an over-50 white guy, but he is not making an ideological argument in this book. His suggestions are realistic, and his argument is not shrill. We’re beyond moral panic. I know many children who are absolutely addicted to their mobile devices, whether we’re talking about a Nintendo Switch, a phone, or an iPad. This circumstance is normal now — so normal, in fact, that you’d be rude and tasteless to remark on it. Our social norms have been very quickly reshaped around this behavior. Kids who aren’t on iPads at the restaurant are the ones who get remarked on, not those who are.

"It’s a lot like any other kind of addiction: We’ve learned to tread very lightly around it, to explain it away. But unlike adults who live with addiction, children are not responsible for themselves. They can reasonably expect their parents to take responsibility for them, at least until high school. (At which point even Haidt says they get to have phones, so all bets are off!)

"The impossible condition of parenting is part of what has gotten us here. Parents work too much, and there is no affordable care infrastructure anywhere. It is inevitable for many parents to be working while trying to care for young children. But we do a lot more on our phones than work. It’s where we socialize and stay in touch, and the inflated amount of time we spend texting alone is a monopolizing factor. Is it possible that we have reached peak texting? Would it be possible for us to text less? I am nauseated at the thought of texting more — I truly hope we’ve hit our limit, but who am I kidding? We are at least as addicted to our phones as our kids are; we need them in order to relax. And since we don’t feel safe letting our kids wander around the neighborhood freely while we scroll in peace, we keep them inside with us, scrolling.

"It’s not just the parents who can’t afford child care whose children are addicted to their phones by age 10. Many parents of means and privilege rely on phones to keep their kids 'happy' to a degree that is — and here I’m going to break the No. 1 rule of parenting writing and shame people — totally gratuitous and lazy. I would be very interested to read a study of parents explaining why they have their children eat dinner in front of an iPad: For many people it’s exhaustion at the end of a long day, but for others it’s an unwillingness to deal with the challenging task of teaching your kids how to act. People tether their children to iPads so as to streamline and optimize their own lives, to avoid meltdowns and chaos. Everyone can be engaged in a semblance of respectable pantomimed productivity through their individual screens, and peace can reign. No messes, no fighting, no whining."

Full article:
https://www.thecut.com/article/children-teen-smartphone-addiction-what-to-do.html

#Internet #InternetCulture #MentalHealth #MentalWellbeing #Teenagers #Parenting #MeaningfulConnections #TechAddiction
#SmartPhones are #DumbingUsDown
#MoreGreenTimeLessScreenTime

The teen '#Luddites' rethinking how they use tech ahead of #Australia's under 16's #SocialMediaBan

By Lucia Stein and Fiona Pepper for Brain Rot

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-09/luddites-phone-free-australia-teen-social-media-ban/105343034

#TheLudditeClub #LudditeClub #Internet #InternetCulture #MentalHealth #MentalWellbeing #Teenagers #Parenting #Luddites #JoinTheLudditeClub #MeaningfulConnections #ReadBooks #CreateArt #WriteBadPoetry #BePresent #TechAddiction
#SmartPhones are #DumbingUsDown
#MoreGreenTimeLessScreenTime

I read through some old online conversations I was having 20 years ago. TWENTY YEARS! I have bad news, and I wrote a blog post about it.

https://reasonably.social/blog/adcee4fe4e0ae1d76cec8add6e86e43a/

#Blog #InternetCulture #Society #Music #Punk #AliceDonut

Gizmodo: Screamboat‘s Director Breaks Down the Ins and Outs of Public Domain Horror. “Winnie the Pooh. Popeye. Steamboat Willie. These days, it seems the instant a recognizable character becomes public domain, someone immediately turns them into a horror movie. Why is that, and what is it like behind the scenes? To get those answers, io9 spoke with Steven LaMorte. He’s the co-writer and […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/04/03/gizmodo-screamboats-director-breaks-down-the-ins-and-outs-of-public-domain-horror/

NBC News: From Brat to ‘brain rot’: 2024’s biggest memes and moments. “Slop, rap beef, brain rot and, yes, ‘hawk tuah’ — what a year it’s been on the internet. The colloquial definition of memes has expanded to include any type of viral internet phenomenon, including slang terms like “rizz” or “skibidi,” that comes alive on social media, according to Don Caldwell, editor-in-chief […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2024/12/23/from-brat-to-brain-rot-2024s-biggest-memes-and-moments-nbc-news/

#YouTube #InternetCulture #InternetFamous

NBC News: MrBeast surpasses PewDiePie as the most-followed individual YouTuber

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/mrbeast-surpasses-pewdiepie-followed-individual-youtuber-rcna56829?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma