The “internet was better” trope stems from the fact that back in the day internet users went to each other’s throats because they wanted to, not because some corporation or government psy-op told them to.

Good, idiot-free spaces can still exist in 2025, but only if you de-politicize them. We can bash each other just as easily without Zuckerberg’s input.

Back in the day, no one gave a shit about privacy because everyone was already anonymous. No one was tracking no one, but most importantly, no one gave a shit about one as an individual or as an opinion. Even deeper, no one cared about their name or social statute, we said what we wanted because we didn’t care about fake internet points. Don’t like me? Ban me? Fuck you, I can create another yahoo.com email in 20 seconds and pop a new account on the platform in another 10. No phone verification, no 2FA, no scan your ID and selfie to be accepted.