AI slop, privacy fears, and endless scrolling are making people fall out of love with the internet

[midian182]

A hot potato: Remember the days when the internet was a fun place full of memes and funny videos, and you couldn't use AI to fulfill the request, "photos or it didn't happen"? Today, many people's view of the net is becoming negative, with 50% of users expecting their data to be exposed, AI making everything hard to believe, and the web stealing too much of their time.

A survey by personal-data removal service Incogni illustrates the changing attitudes toward the internet. Given the company's business, it's little surprise to see a focus on data breaches.

More than 50% of participants believe that it's inevitable their personal data will be breached, with only 11% disagreeing with the statement. Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) were most confident they'd be safe, but a still-high 47% believe their data is bound to be hijacked. Gen X (born 1965 to 1980) were most pessimistic (56%).

These concerns were reflected in other questions. Half of the participants regret sharing their information online, while the possibility of having their data stolen made 63% anxious.

It's not just the fear of having details pilfered that's turning people off the internet. More netizens are starting to believe they spend too much time online (44%), while 45% think they spend just the right amount of time.

A slightly more modern online phenomenon is the proliferation of AI content. It's thanks to the countless AI-generated photos, videos, and news reports that almost half the participants are less sure what's real. 27% are tired of wading through AI slop, one in four is bothered by the lack of accountability for deepfake creators, and the whole AI situation makes 27% of people want to spend less time online.

Incogni compares the current problem of AI slop to spam email in the 1990s, though most would argue it's a lot worse, especially when used to incite division.

Social media is another element of the web that's been getting more awful. The survey reveals that 47% of people have deleted their account or a messaging app because it caused stress or anxiety, while 41% did the same thing over privacy concerns.

Incogni also asked the question: would you pay for an internet with no tracking or algorithmic feeds? Only 29% said yes, the majority of whom were in a high-income group, and 46% said no.

From privacy violations and AI slop to Dead Internet Theory becoming closer to reality, the modern internet has a lot of problems. But more people use it today than at any previous point, so those causing these issues are unlikely to care, sadly.

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AI slop, privacy fears, and endless scrolling are making people fall out of love with the internet

 

[yRaz]

I basically only use social media keep up with people I haven't seen in 20 years. I can go weeks without logging in. I used to be big into YouTube but every other video seems like AI slop. You can almost instantly tell in the voice and video. There is a smoothness in AI video that gives it away.

 

[GeoffreyA]

You can almost instantly tell in the voice and video. There is a smoothness in AI video that gives it away.

The script and delivery are too "perfect," too regular. Funnily enough, our "defects" turn out to be a positive trait today.

 

[NumberNine]

I think once people stop believing that social media is the entire internet, they'll realize that it's actually a very useful resource.

 

[hahahanoobs]

It's not AI.
Everyone is the same on the internet.

They talk with the same slang.
Dress the same.
Same haircuts.
Same tech in their pockets.
Same video production.
Too many content creators.
Anything unique gets copied.
Same lame jokes and overrused memes.
Same goofiness.
Same thumbnails.
Grown men acting like kids.

The list goes on. The Internet is not a masculine environment. I see more fruity actions from "straight men" than the LGBT community.

I'd almost trade the internet for landlines and cable tv at this point. I also think a lot of people are getting sick of the status quo.

Consumers want the products to improve every year while they defend staying the same.

It's a weird place.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

It's not AI.
Everyone is the same on the internet.

They talk with the same slang.
Dress the same.
Same haircuts.
Same tech in their pockets.
Same video production.
Too many content creators.
Anything unique gets copied.
Same lame jokes and overrused memes.
Same goofiness.
Same thumbnails.
Grown men acting like kids.

The list goes on. The Internet is not a masculine environment. I see more fruity actions from "straight men" than the LGBT community.

I'd almost trade the internet for landlines and cable tv at this point. I also think a lot of people are getting sick of the status quo.

Consumers want the products to improve every year while they defend staying the same.

It's a weird place.

The only way youd think everyone is the same on the internet is if you exclusively use reddit.

Try visiting the less censored parts of the web, and you will find just how diverse the internet really is.

 

[Vanderlinde]

I basically only use social media keep up with people I haven't seen in 20 years. I can go weeks without logging in. I used to be big into YouTube but every other video seems like AI slop. You can almost instantly tell in the voice and video. There is a smoothness in AI video that gives it away.

And just still images hopping from one subject or idea to the other. I mean crafting (good) vids is a tough job. Some are working for 2 to even 4 weeks straight to even get a one hour vid up.

I get it, AI makes it easier, but I'm seeing more and more rebrands of old topics poured into a new bag and all that.

 

[Lowhangingfruit]

The only way youd think everyone is the same on the internet is if you exclusively use reddit.

Try visiting the less censored parts of the web, and you will find just how diverse the internet really is.

I've tried that and all I found in the "uncensored" parts of the internet was porn and fascists. Maybe you had better luck.

 

[pnntmp]

I really don't understand most of this

More than 50% of participants believe that it's inevitable their personal data will be breached

Only data you provide can be breached. Data you don't share can't be - it's up to you.

More netizens are starting to believe they spend too much time online

That's outright ridiculous, how about starting not to waste time online? It's up to you.

There are plenty of solutions that eliminate tracking (and you don't have to pay a cent for them), "doomscrolling" is something you do voluntarily, and consuming AI slop is also something you do voluntarily. It's up to you to fix all that, and it's not at all hard, just do it.

Everything that makes people "fall out of love with the internet" is in the hands of said people. Instead of falling out of love, get rid of what you dislike.
Deleting social media accounts is a positive trend, but still relatively few people do it.

 

[OortCloud]

Greedy big tech corporations have completely subverted the Internet. Taken an awesome concept that for years was a great place to learn, meet people, play games and generally have a good time and turned it into a swamp. The main culprits in this are undoubtedly Meta and Google. Two organisations that have done immeasurable damage to society all for a quick buck, but there are a whole rogues gallery of offenders below that such as Open AI, Microsoft, X etc etc.

 

[AnilD]

The fact that only 29% would pay for a tracking-free internet tells you everything about how this actually gets fixed — nobody wants to open their wallet, they just want to complain until someone else fixes it for free.

 

[p51d007]

Which will happen first? The crash of AI, or the crash of (un)social media?
How about both at the same time?

 

[Tantor]

It's not AI.
Everyone is the same on the internet.

They talk with the same slang.
Dress the same.
Same haircuts.
Same tech in their pockets.
Same video production.
Too many content creators.
Anything unique gets copied.
Same lame jokes and overrused memes.
Same goofiness.
Same thumbnails.
Grown men acting like kids.

The list goes on. The Internet is not a masculine environment. I see more fruity actions from "straight men" than the LGBT community.

I'd almost trade the internet for landlines and cable tv at this point. I also think a lot of people are getting sick of the status quo.

Consumers want the products to improve every year while they defend staying the same.

It's a weird place.

You hit the nail on the head. Grown men acting like kids.

Boomer here, graduated from high school in 1971. At the time Los Angeles was 85% white. There were zero Mexicans in our public school. Our Spanish class made a special field trip to Olavera street in LA to see Mexican culture and learn about pinatas and tortillas.

All the girls were skinny and cute, even older women were cute. Girls were actually feminine and wore dresses. None of this in-your-face hostility and hatred for men. That hatred was introduced by the feminists. We rarely saw obese or overweight people. Only merchant mariners had tattoos, or maybe some marines. Tattoos on girls were called 'tramp stamps'. Girls who slept around were 'sluts'.

Having seen both sides of the great 60's social changes first hand, I can tell you that things are almost inconceivably different. I have a good friend who grew up in Montana. He said the guys used to bring their .22 rifles to school, put them in their locker, and go hunting after school. There was no such thing as 'school shooting'. The worst drug was alcohol.

Then the Beatles came to the US and everything changed. Civil rights legislation, abortions, easy divorces, radical feminism, Black panthers, drugs, Vietnam War, Star Trek. You used to be able to hitch hike fairly safely, but no more.

Things in the 50's and early 60's were not perfect but there was a sense of American identity, home town, and community. That's all gone out the window. Now there is no American identity. Anybody who walks over the border instantly becomes an 'American'. I just laugh when people talk about America as a great nation. There is no America anymore. Just a woke desert as far as the eye can see.

 

[Tantor]

The fact that only 29% would pay for a tracking-free internet tells you everything about how this actually gets fixed — nobody wants to open their wallet, they just want to complain until someone else fixes it for free.

I don't believe the usual explanations for all this tracking. They say it allows them to tailor advertising to each customer. But that's ridiculous. I have never actually purchased a thing from any internet advertisement. I don't know anybody who has.

Tracking-free internet should cost ZERO dollars. Congress merely needs to make unauthorized tracking illegal and punishable by hefty fines and criminal penalties.

Opening mail used to be a felony. Somehow email was excluded from that law.

 

[p51d007]

You hit the nail on the head. Grown men acting like kids.

Boomer here, graduated from high school in 1971. At the time Los Angeles was 85% white. There were zero Mexicans in our public school. Our Spanish class made a special field trip to Olavera street in LA to see Mexican culture and learn about pinatas and tortillas.

All the girls were skinny and cute, even older women were cute. Girls were actually feminine and wore dresses. None of this in-your-face hostility and hatred for men. That hatred was introduced by the feminists. We rarely saw obese or overweight people. Only merchant mariners had tattoos, or maybe some marines. Tattoos on girls were called 'tramp stamps'. Girls who slept around were 'sluts'.

Having seen both sides of the great 60's social changes first hand, I can tell you that things are almost inconceivably different. I have a good friend who grew up in Montana. He said the guys used to bring their .22 rifles to school, put them in their locker, and go hunting after school. There was no such thing as 'school shooting'. The worst drug was alcohol.

Then the Beatles came to the US and everything changed. Civil rights legislation, abortions, easy divorces, radical feminism, Black panthers, drugs, Vietnam War, Star Trek. You used to be able to hitch hike fairly safely, but no more.

Things in the 50's and early 60's were not perfect but there was a sense of American identity, home town, and community. That's all gone out the window. Now there is no American identity. Anybody who walks over the border instantly becomes an 'American'. I just laugh when people talk about America as a great nation. There is no America anymore. Just a woke desert as far as the eye can see.

Spot on! Graduated in 77. Small midwest town, 3,500 population. The "big" city was 30 minutes away and that was 30,000!
Every pickup truck in our school parking lot had a gun rack with at least a rifle. Some had a rifle & shotgun. LOADED. Truck was UNLOCKED. Pretty much every boy carried a buck knife on his belt or a pocket knife.
If you had a beef with someone, after school you met in the field behind this huge tree, slugged it out a couple times, got up, shook hands and that was it. Heck, on the weekend, you'd probably be down at the creek fishing or swimming, both drinking a beer listening to music.
We had manners, respect, honor. Not any more.

 

[Tantor]

I really don't understand most of this

Only data you provide can be breached. Data you don't share can't be - it's up to you.

That's outright ridiculous, how about starting not to waste time online? It's up to you.

There are plenty of solutions that eliminate tracking (and you don't have to pay a cent for them), "doomscrolling" is something you do voluntarily, and consuming AI slop is also something you do voluntarily. It's up to you to fix all that, and it's not at all hard, just do it.

Everything that makes people "fall out of love with the internet" is in the hands of said people. Instead of falling out of love, get rid of what you dislike.
Deleting social media accounts is a positive trend, but still relatively few people do it.

Not correct. Your browsing activity is tracked everywhere by default. It's difficult to opt out. Microsoft makes it very difficult to remove telemetry. You can de-google Android phones but you lose functionality.

But you're right that most people don't care enough to take counter-measures.

 

[arrowflash]

Grown men acting like kids.

You hit the nail on the head. Grown men acting like kids.

Boomer here, graduated from high school in 1971.

I'm much younger, a xillennial born in the early 1980s. I agree that one of the main problems with western society today is the staggering number of grown men and grown women acting like kids. It's a problem not only in the United States but most of the modern world in general. You'll see that this phenomenon is also very common in any country in Latin America, Western Europe, and parts of Asia. These manchildren and womanchildren are also often extremely narcissistic and sociopathic, traits that are further enabled and intensified by the internet and antisocial media, and the fact that people with these traits often fit right in in the modern big corpo environments.

However my belief is that the main culprit is the education and upbringing that these people, especially the generation that's currently between their mid-20s - late 30s, have received in their youth. Core millennials and late millennials especially, many have been raised without any limits or rules, never hearing a "no" from their parents, also increasingly liberal school environments, and now we're seeing the results.

I received a very strict upbringing from my parents, as well as most of my relatives and friends did. Way back during the 1990s I remember my parents and relatives would already talk about this, since they were shocked to see how other parents who were often a little younger than them, raising kids a little younger than us, were so liberal in their upbringing and pampered them too much. Even me and my cousins agreed with them. The most interesting thing is how even way back then, my mother already often said and predicted that this would turn them into a generation of narcissistic and sociopathic manchildren - the only thing that she got wrong, is that she was concerned how they would survive in society and have jobs, because she didn't predict that contemporary society would actually enable this type of people.

 

[user556]

Not correct. Your browsing activity is tracked everywhere by default. It's difficult to opt out. Microsoft makes it very difficult to remove telemetry. You can de-google Android phones but you lose functionality.

But you're right that most people don't care enough to take counter-measures.

Exactly. One would have to avoid all M$ and Google powered products. Then also make sure tracker blocking is strongly configured so that things like social media doesn't work. Then you might have opted out of enough to not be tracked. But then you're down to using email to communicate, and a very limited web experience.

That's the problem of no regulations.

 

[Y2JB47]

You hit the nail on the head. Grown men acting like kids.

Boomer here, graduated from high school in 1971. At the time Los Angeles was 85% white. There were zero Mexicans in our public school. Our Spanish class made a special field trip to Olavera street in LA to see Mexican culture and learn about pinatas and tortillas.

All the girls were skinny and cute, even older women were cute. Girls were actually feminine and wore dresses. None of this in-your-face hostility and hatred for men. That hatred was introduced by the feminists. We rarely saw obese or overweight people. Only merchant mariners had tattoos, or maybe some marines. Tattoos on girls were called 'tramp stamps'. Girls who slept around were 'sluts'.

Having seen both sides of the great 60's social changes first hand, I can tell you that things are almost inconceivably different. I have a good friend who grew up in Montana. He said the guys used to bring their .22 rifles to school, put them in their locker, and go hunting after school. There was no such thing as 'school shooting'. The worst drug was alcohol.

Then the Beatles came to the US and everything changed. Civil rights legislation, abortions, easy divorces, radical feminism, Black panthers, drugs, Vietnam War, Star Trek. You used to be able to hitch hike fairly safely, but no more.

Things in the 50's and early 60's were not perfect but there was a sense of American identity, home town, and community. That's all gone out the window. Now there is no American identity. Anybody who walks over the border instantly becomes an 'American'. I just laugh when people talk about America as a great nation. There is no America anymore. Just a woke desert as far as the eye can see.

This has to be satire? The sad truth is that it’s racist boomers (like this guy) that have opened the door to fascists (who in turn have let big tech run wild for personal profit) who have ruined western society.

 

[Loadedaxe]

It's not AI.
Everyone is the same on the internet.

They talk with the same slang.
Dress the same.
Same haircuts.
Same tech in their pockets.
Same video production.
Too many content creators.
Anything unique gets copied.
Same lame jokes and overrused memes.
Same goofiness.
Same thumbnails.
Grown men acting like kids.

The list goes on. The Internet is not a masculine environment. I see more fruity actions from "straight men" than the LGBT community.

I'd almost trade the internet for landlines and cable tv at this point. I also think a lot of people are getting sick of the status quo.

Consumers want the products to improve every year while they defend staying the same.

It's a weird place.

I actually agree with part of you're post, but I think you're describing a symptom of the modern internet more than the real cause.

The internet has become extremely homogenized. Algorithms reward whatever already works, so creators copy the same thumbnails, editing styles, jokes, slang, reactions and formats. Something original becomes popular, and within weeks there are thousands of copies. Eventually everything starts feeling manufactured.

AI is adding another layer to that problem because now producing enormous amounts of mediocre content is easier and cheaper than ever. Combine that with endless scrolling, aggressive recommendation algorithms, advertising, tracking and privacy concerns, and it's understandable why people are getting tired of being online.

Where I disagree is making it about masculinity, sexuality or how grown men are "supposed" to behave. That's mostly subjective and distracts from the stronger argument.

The bigger problem is that the internet went from being a place where people created things because they were interested in them to an industry built around engagement. Everyone is competing for the same clicks, following the same analytics and copying whatever the algorithm rewards.

Ironically, we have more content than ever before, yet increasingly it all feels the same.

I don't think people necessarily miss landlines and cable TV. I think they miss when being online felt like something you chose and wanted to do rather than something specifically engineered to keep you there.

 

[Loadedaxe]

You hit the nail on the head. Grown men acting like kids.

Boomer here, graduated from high school in 1971. At the time Los Angeles was 85% white. There were zero Mexicans in our public school. Our Spanish class made a special field trip to Olavera street in LA to see Mexican culture and learn about pinatas and tortillas.

All the girls were skinny and cute, even older women were cute. Girls were actually feminine and wore dresses. None of this in-your-face hostility and hatred for men. That hatred was introduced by the feminists. We rarely saw obese or overweight people. Only merchant mariners had tattoos, or maybe some marines. Tattoos on girls were called 'tramp stamps'. Girls who slept around were 'sluts'.

Having seen both sides of the great 60's social changes first hand, I can tell you that things are almost inconceivably different. I have a good friend who grew up in Montana. He said the guys used to bring their .22 rifles to school, put them in their locker, and go hunting after school. There was no such thing as 'school shooting'. The worst drug was alcohol.

Then the Beatles came to the US and everything changed. Civil rights legislation, abortions, easy divorces, radical feminism, Black panthers, drugs, Vietnam War, Star Trek. You used to be able to hitch hike fairly safely, but no more.

Things in the 50's and early 60's were not perfect but there was a sense of American identity, home town, and community. That's all gone out the window. Now there is no American identity. Anybody who walks over the border instantly becomes an 'American'. I just laugh when people talk about America as a great nation. There is no America anymore. Just a woke desert as far as the eye can see.

I get the nostalgia for a time that felt simpler and more community oriented, but I think you're blending personal memories with a heavily filtered version of history.

The 1950s and 60s were not some universally peaceful, morally superior era that suddenly collapsed because of the Beatles, feminism, civil rights, or changing social norms. That period included segregation, racial violence, organized crime, domestic abuse that was often ignored, alcoholism, heroin and other drug problems, political assassinations, riots, the Vietnam War and enormous social unrest.

Even the idea that there were "no school shootings" or that alcohol was the worst drug simply doesn't hold up historically. Those problems existed...they were reported differently, discussed differently, and in many cases were far less visible because there was no 24 hour news cycle or internet putting every incident in front of millions of people.

Some things genuinely were better. Communities could be tighter, people interacted face to face more, housing was comparatively affordable, and society wasn't being bombarded every waking minute by algorithms and social media. I think those are worthwhile conversations.

But blaming today's problems on women becoming less "feminine," minorities gaining civil rights, divorce becoming easier, or immigrants is where the argument loses merit. Social change didn't destroy America. In many respects, it expanded who was allowed to fully participate in it.

Every generation tends to remember the world of its youth more fondly than it actually was. There are plenty of things wrong with modern culture, but we're not going to understand them accurately if we start by pretending the past was something it wasn't.

This has to be satire? The sad truth is that it’s racist boomers (like this guy) that have opened the door to fascists (who in turn have let big tech run wild for personal profit) who have ruined western society.

Calling someone a “racist boomer” and blaming “fascists” for everything isn’t really an argument...it’s just trading one set of sweeping stereotypes for another.

I disagreed with a lot of what he wrote, but at least there were actual claims there to discuss by him. If the response is simply “boomers, fascists and big tech ruined society,” then we haven’t advanced the conversation at all.

You can criticize nostalgia, racism, bad policy, corporate influence and political extremism without reducing millions of people to a convenient label. Ironically, that kind of tribal thinking is part of what has made internet discussion so miserable and simple minded in the first place.

 

[Loadedaxe]

Greedy big tech corporations have completely subverted the Internet. Taken an awesome concept that for years was a great place to learn, meet people, play games and generally have a good time and turned it into a swamp. The main culprits in this are undoubtedly Meta and Google. Two organisations that have done immeasurable damage to society all for a quick buck, but there are a whole rogues gallery of offenders below that such as Open AI, Microsoft, X etc etc.

I think you have a good point, but I’d broaden the blame a little.

Big tech absolutely helped turn the internet from something largely built around information, communities and hobbies into something increasingly built around advertising, data collection and engagement. Google and Meta played enormous roles in that, and companies like Microsoft, X and now AI companies are certainly part of the current landscape.

But I don’t think it’s quite as simple as saying corporations took a perfect internet and destroyed it.

They built what the market rewarded. Users wanted everything free, advertisers wanted more precise targeting, investors wanted constant growth, and algorithms discovered that outrage, controversy and endless scrolling kept people engaged longer than simply giving them useful information.

That created a vicious cycle...platforms optimized for engagement, users adapted their behavior to those platforms, creators learned to game the algorithms, and competitors copied whatever produced the most clicks.

AI may accelerate the problem by making cheap, disposable content incredibly easy to produce, but it didn’t create the underlying incentive structure.

So I’d say big tech deserves a large share of the criticism, but the bigger problem is what the internet became economically...attention itself became the product.

Until there is more incentive to reward quality, privacy and usefulness instead of sheer engagement, replacing one corporation with another probably won’t fix much.

 

[Anton Longshot]

I use nor visit any of the problematic places/features mentioned.

So, my love for the 'net is still going strong.

There's no telling how long this will last but right now that's a non-issue.
Worst-case scenario: reverting to downloading the usual consumables and use email and perhaps Signal (only got my 3 closest friends on that one) and ditch the rest.
No biggie.

 

[JaredTheDragon]

I don't believe the usual explanations for all this tracking. They say it allows them to tailor advertising to each customer. But that's ridiculous. I have never actually purchased a thing from any internet advertisement. I don't know anybody who has.

Tracking-free internet should cost ZERO dollars. Congress merely needs to make unauthorized tracking illegal and punishable by hefty fines and criminal penalties.

Opening mail used to be a felony. Somehow email was excluded from that law.

It is literally the CIA. Facebook and META are entirely CIA constructs - they barely exist, in reality, and Zucky certainly never did a single thing in his life. Google is NSA, and they all work together from the same offices in Langley and such.

It was never about ad revenue, it was about subversion and mind control. And I mean, they're very good at it - even THIS website is funded and operated by Langley.

 

[R00sT3R]

Americans ruin everything they touch with their sociopathic levels of greed.