17 things everybody misses from the days of the “old internet”

The internet hasn’t been around for that long, but it’s changed dramatically in the years since it first really became a household staple. And although a lot of incredible strides have technically been made, there’s a lot of nostalgia for the old days that encompasses both fond memories and a wish for practicality and personality that are long gone from our modern internet.

Redditors decided to put their heads together and reflect on some of those “old internet” things we all miss. Our time on the worldwide web may no longer be dominated by dial tones and Geocities websites, but we’ll keep those memories alive all the same.

1. Flash games

“Flash games. This was really a form of art in some ways. And we took it for granted.” —u/Zieeloo

2. Usable search engines

“Being able to search for something and the search results not being page after page of AI corporate slop.” —u/Belle_TainSummer

3. The separation

“I miss when the internet was a ‘place’ where you would intentionally go. You would need to sit in front of your PC, turn on your PC, and connect to the internet. Now it’s everywhere. The first thing we grab when we wake up is our cellphone to turn the alarm off, and with it, there are a lot of app notifications.” —u/senhoritavulpix

4. Learning HTML

“Hand coding pages and stealing ideas from looking at code online.” —u/ontarioparent

5. A more authentic YouTube

“2005-2010 YouTube. The videos felt less commercialized and more organic. The channel layouts looked way better and were better organized. You could use any image you wanted for the background with the channel info text boxes over it.” —u/Long-Tip-5374

6. …even the downvotes

“YouTube Dislikes.” —u/While-Sky2714

7. Hobbies over side-hustles

“Posting and creating was ‘For the love of the game’.” —u/guesting

8. Amazon, before

“Old Amazon. Search actually found you what you wanted instead of ramming fake alphabet soup brands from China on the first 10 pages of results.” —u/EmergencyRace7158

9. That sound!!

“krkkk…krrrRRR…sssshhh…beeeeeeeeeeep… whEEEeeeEEEeee…kssshhCHHhh…ping-ping… BOOOOONG…chirp-chirp…SKREEEEEeeeeee… ka-krrrrrr-KRSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…bee-bee-beep…ping…” —u/cervesa_v

10. Anything but algorithms

“Simple feeds of content, organized in ways we could understand. Like, ‘here’s a list of all the posts from people you’ve friended, shown from newest to oldest.’ Now everything is algorithmically sorted and injected with recommended content and clickbait meant to keep us scrolling.” —u/KaleidoscopeProper67

11. Chat rooms

“Mid/late 90s chat rooms. They were pretty cool just randomly meeting new people.” —u/HotSpicedChai

12. Simpler browsing

“Opening a page and there it is, the page. No, I don’t want to subscribe. Well, no, I also don’t want to allow 3247 third parties to own the cookie (or however it works). Just a flashing banner to avoid, and text. A picture if you’re lucky.” —u/theguywhocantdance

13. Personal websites

“People having their own website devoted to their unique interests.” —u/GameShowWerewolf

14. Chaos and adventure

“Just because it was like the wild west, you never know what you’d find or a new website you’d come across. Online friends and chats. It was a lot more fun and authentic.” —u/SeafoodDuder

15. Forums

“God, I miss forums. As a weird little lonely kid, I feel like some of the older folks on forums brought me up. They were the place I went when life was too much. There was always some niche little community I could turn to. Reddit is great, but it’s not the same at all.” —u/jesuseatsbees

16. Fun

“I miss being able to post and read things without hearing about clout/karma/like chasing. There used to be a time you could just screw around and chat online, and the sole reward was that you were entertained. But now people are either chasing likes or accusing everyone else of doing so.” —u/Mental_Freedom_1648

17. An internet of our own

“The whole internet not being five mega-corporate spaces.” —u/dakmar2

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