athletes got stupid rich. For the first time, luxury items started to be mass-
produced and advertised to the middle classes. There was explosive growth in
the technologies of convenience: microwavable dinners, fast food, La-Z-
Boys, no-stick pans, and so on. Life became so easy and fast and efficient and
effortless that within the short span of a hundred years, people were able to
pick up a telephone and accomplish in two minutes what used to take two
months.
Life in the commercial age, although more complex than before, was still
relatively simple compared to today. A large, bustling middle class existed
within a homogenous culture. We watched the same TV channels, listened to
the same music, ate the same food, relaxed on the same types of sofas, and
read the same newspapers and magazines. There was continuity and cohesion
to this era, which brought a sense of security with it. We were all, for a time,
both free and yet part of the same religion. And that was comforting. Despite
the constant threat of nuclear annihilation, at least in the West, we tend to
idealize this period. I believe that it’s for this sense of social cohesion that
many people today are so nostalgic.
Then, the internet happened.
The internet is a bona fide innovation. All else being equal, it
fundamentally makes our lives better. Much better.
The problem is . . . well, the problem is us.
The internet’s intentions were good: inventors and technologists in Silicon
Valley and elsewhere had high hopes for a digital planet. They worked for
decades toward a vision of seamlessly networking the world’s people and
information. They believed that the internet would liberate people, removing
gatekeepers and hierarchies and giving everyone equal access to the same
information and the same opportunities to express themselves. They believed
that if everyone were given a voice and a simple, effective means of sharing
that voice, the world would be a better, freer place.
A near-utopian level of optimism developed throughout the 1990s and
2000s. Technologists envisioned a highly educated global population that
would tap into the infinite wisdom available at its fingertips. They saw the
opportunity to engender greater empathy and understanding across nations,
ethnicities, and lifestyles. They dreamed of a unified and connected global
movement with a single shared interest in peace and prosperity.
But they forgot.
They were so caught up in their religious dreams and personal hopes that
they forgot.