I once had a really good thing going with Discover on Spotify, it was genuinely coming up with all sorts of good stuff for me from obscure electronica classics to new independent music. Getting DO YOU DOUBT ME TRAITOR from Lingua Ignota on the way to work was a memorable example. Crikey! Then my son started wanting to play music and it's just a mess now that I almost never look at. Never mind! I encourage him all the same and enjoy some tiny percentage of his stuff amongst the badness.
I got right into jungle again recently. Anything that autoplays after jungle is always Chase n fucking Status.
Talked to a few people and now I listen to Sully, 5am Kru and Nia Archives. Much better.
It really doesn't exist. Certainly not in the form we'd view as the peak 10-20 years ago.
Move to mobile over desktop (and partly laptop) has definitely changed how we consume online. Or at the very least how the people here would. I'm guessing most of us probably do most of our browsing on a phone now and only get out the laptop or sit at the desktop for something more involved. Whereas in the past me I'd do most on desktop, eventually moving to most on laptop.
My attention span these days is totally fucked. I won't lie, I haven't read your full post. I may return and read it in full at some point, but that's a problem I currently have which I think has been partly caused by the "scrolling" nature of social media these days.
Next post, next post, quick dopamine hit, forward that reel to my gf, skip that. Just letting the algorithm feed me nonsense rather than seeking out interesting things I want read/consume/enjoy.
I need to regulate my screen time far better.
I used to pride myself on not falling for the "short hit" side of social media - I avoided Tik Tok, Twitter and while I watch a lot of YouTube it's mostly long form, useful, content.
But I won't lie - Facebook Shorts has utterly got me. I can easily zone out for ages just scrolling through, frankly, mindless shite.
I've deliberately not bothered with TikTok because of this.
I've got plumbers in my algorithm at the moment. Quite like it.
Hello.
Thought of the old place recently and making my amusingly irregular swing by to be pleased that you and other folk still exist in this magical world.
You're right.
The reason I've thought about it was because I've been retreading my career path and the old PC format forum and the folk from it, some of whom made this place, was instrumental in my social development as a geeky 20 something in the late 90s and early 2000s.
It was through there that I got my job at criterion games in derby, where I joined the rock city message boards and made a life in the midlands that still has imprints on me now.
Through both places I got jobs, went to exclusive events and gigs, which I doubt would be possible these days.
Anyway, nowadays I tend to watch creators on youtube who seem more down to earth who seem to be of my generation or my style, like adventureme, rick beato, jonny harris, and grassroots political commentary. I quit x and rarely touch anything away from Facebook/insta which is for small circles of old friends.
I have distractions in my real life that take a lot of focus from any of the old fun stuff (also fun) but it is nice to think about the old west of the www.