Comment by kypro
1 day ago
> The Internet used to be like that.
Not really... Even back in the Web 1.0 days people didn't visit the same websites unless they had the same interests. And even today this exists – I'm seeing the same HN homepage for example, and this is true of most sites.
I think what you're describing was much more of a thing in the 80s and 90s with TV. People genuinely would tune into the same programs as each other every night and have these collective cultural experiences which don't quite exist in the same way they used to.
I don't miss it personally, but I suspect us losing that has led to some of our cultural divides in recent years.
I'm not the global shared experiences you're describing really ever existed.
In the early days of YouTube when uploads were still few, there were videos (often shock ones) that got views from a substantial slice of the American public. It was as unifying an experience as TV.
> I doubt the global shared experiences you're describing really ever existed.
You were probably too young and did not experience it.
What you said is not accurate.
In early days we all saw the same ads, uphill, both ways.