How long do you think it would take for regular peeps to migrate over to places like Neocities if social media went down completely?

[Cinderpeach]

I was reading some of the replies on 1980Miami's thread about No Smartphones or No Social Media, and then I was reminded about that time FB and Insta went down for a bit, and that go me thinking...

If FB, Insta, and Twitter were to completely *POOF* overnight, how long do you think it would take for the gen pop to start looking at places like Neocities or Mastodon, or forums, or even one of the MySpace clone sites to have an online presence or stay connected? How many of them you think would actually be PUSHED to making their own site, How many would just give up on the internet and actually go outside and touch grass?

(Just to be nice there's still Youtube, Tiktok, Tumblr, and Discord in this timeline btw)
Edit: OKAY, I realize leaving in TikTok and Tumblr just makes this question MOOT, so we only have Youtube and that's it, and what I mean by gen pop I mean normies

 

[E R I L A Z]

what a fuckin question. I'd like to be optimistic and think going outside would be the first thought for most people, because they'd reconnect with those they know irl. I'd give it a solid year or two before the re-emergence of wide online culture, because those who do stay online would be pushed to use sites that stay up, like Mastodon, 4chan, or Gab. The massive influx of normies to those sites would drive a lot of older users out, who would be the main creators of new Neocities

 

[nagolbud]

Honestly I think most would find distractions and wait for it to come back up... after a few weeks they'd probably go ape shit crazy. It would create tons of mental illness for most people like a part of their "personality" was deleted. Maybe they'd go to places like Mastodon but most have no idea what it is. I'd love to watch it happen...

 

[E R I L A Z]

Honestly I think most would find distractions and wait for it to come back up... after a few weeks they'd probably go ape shit crazy. It would create tons of mental illness for most people like a part of their "personality" was deleted. Maybe they'd go to places like Mastodon but most have no idea what it is. I'd love to watch it happen...

ah, how I await the inevitable decline of this shitshow we call a society...

 

[Hraelth]

Most people would just go back to being TVrace. Maybe mastadong would get a bit of an influx but many would be scared off from the lack of jannies (& most instances would just be overloaded beyond capacity)

 

[nagolbud]

The reality is though without social media we wouldn't know what they do lol.

 

[Richthofen]

what will happen for sure is that ppl will go completely FUBAR for the first few weeks. or months. a big part of the population will for sure. ive done a small experiment on myself. and i really cant spend more than 2 hours without randomly clicking on the White F with blue BG icon. even if its just for 5 mins.

the initial phases of "going unplugged" (for exams) are really really tough. i need internet ofc for my studies, but i often end up spending hours on social media on my 10 min breaks.

so things will be complete chaos the first few months. thats for sure. and i kinda want these sites to disappear lol.

 

[flugel]

I kinda wanna say people would rush to make new sites that are either very small or have a small community.
I'd actually really love that.
Everyone sticking to their own communities.
Kinda like this one.
Small and cozy.

 

[Novem_IX]

I think social media disappearing would spark an amazing renaissance in internet culture. Tech-literate users with specific interests would return to small-scale forums like this one or create their own forums.
A lot of normies who use social media solely for validation and dopamine hits would give up on the internet entirely, apart from google searches. People would begin to reconnect IRL more.
Influencers/instagram divas would have mental breakdowns when they realize they have to get actual jobs.
People in general would be happier and less stressed, because they wouldn't be constantly scrolling through an endless feed of propaganda, sensationalist headlines and advertisements.
I'm struggling to think of a single bad outcome.

 

[nagolbud]

I think social media disappearing would spark an amazing renaissance in internet culture. Tech-literate users with specific interests would return to small-scale forums like this one or create their own forums.
A lot of normies who use social media solely for validation and dopamine hits would give up on the internet entirely, apart from google searches. People would begin to reconnect IRL more.
Influencers/instagram divas would have mental breakdowns when they realize they have to get actual jobs.
People in general would be happier and less stressed, because they wouldn't be constantly scrolling through an endless feed of propaganda, sensationalist headlines and advertisements.
I'm struggling to think of a single bad outcome.

I've always had the dream of hacking their databases and just hitting delete on all major social media lol.

 

[kultra]

To be completely blunt I think most of them are too retar-- well maybe that's a bit harsh-- not tech savvy enough to use a community like neocities. I've talked to zoomers and mentioned light computer terms like "browser" and "cache" and had to explain what both those things were. The fediverse already sucks so if they moved there it wouldn't really change much. That would be the most likely scenario for migration given it would still be able to satisfy the addiction to likes and subscriptions for those who have built large chunks of identity around online profiles, just based on what horrors I've glimpsed from tiktok and twitter.

 

[Vaporeon]

I don't think they would go to any of those sites. Normies like the internet to easily post shallow stuff, shop, and post pictures for validation and none of those sites really support that kind of activity except maybe Myspace. I think they would go outside and back to their regular social groups.

 

[Cinderpeach]

I kinda wanna say people would rush to make new sites that are either very small or have a small community.
I'd actually really love that.
Everyone sticking to their own communities.
Kinda like this one.
Small and cozy.

I hope the same thing too, but part me also feel like that's a bit too good to be true...

 

[Shrug]

I think there would be a corporate arms race to create new sites that do exactly the same things as Facebook/Twitter/whatever and we'd be back to normal real quick. There's just too much money in being able to take data from and advertise to as many people as possible.

 

[s0ren]

To be completely blunt I think most of them are too retar-- well maybe that's a bit harsh-- not tech savvy enough to use a community like neocities. I've talked to zoomers and mentioned light computer terms like "browser" and "cache" and had to explain what both those things were. The fediverse already sucks so if they moved there it wouldn't really change much. That would be the most likely scenario for migration given it would still be able to satisfy the addiction to likes and subscriptions for those who have built large chunks of identity around online profiles, just based on what horrors I've glimpsed from tiktok and twitter.

Exactly this. The average person is far too reliant on on mobile devices, their phones and tablets, to really make the jump to more traditional websites and navigation. For the average zoomer + zillenial their computers are just Netflix machines or what they use for work (excel, word, etc.).

 

[Cinderpeach]

Exactly this. The average person is far too reliant on on mobile devices, their phones and tablets, to really make the jump to more traditional websites and navigation. For the average zoomer + zillenial their computers are just Netflix machines or what they use for work (excel, word, etc.).

Okay, yeah there's a young zoomer in my art class (an art class that is filled with mostly boomers apart from me and the young gen z) and she said that she doesn't even have a computer at home, I couldn't even believe when she said that, its kind of a depressing thought to think about how little some of the younger gen know about the power and freedom not just the computer can give you but the web as well (at least the indie/old web parts that are still around)

 

[tofuDWU]

I kinda wanna say people would rush to make new sites that are either very small or have a small community.
I'd actually really love that.
Everyone sticking to their own communities.
Kinda like this one.
Small and cozy.

kinda like...Agora Road's Macintosh Cafe eh?

 

[lain is here]

(Just to be nice there's still Youtube, Tiktok, Tumblr, and Discord in this timeline btw)

As far as I'm concerned Discord and >reddit did a lot more damage to the internet and internet subcultures than FB, Twitter, and Instagram did. Social media are normie filters, and are predominantly used by people who 10 ~ 15 years ago had little interest in the internet. Discord and >reddit basically killed Internet forums, which pisses me off a lot more.

 

[llillilll]

I knew 25+ rich people that don't have computers because their iphone can do anything they want but manage to pull 3+ screentime every day. They wouldn't be able to cope with not using their computers nonstop soo they would force websites to become like their main website even if there are technical difficulties. Just remember, twitter twitterised >reddit, >reddit redditised 4chan and 4chan 4chanizes every 5pph+ IB. I think in 2 weeks every website would become twitter/>reddit nodes with different UI.

 

[flugel]

I think social media disappearing would spark an amazing renaissance in internet culture. Tech-literate users with specific interests would return to small-scale forums like this one or create their own forums.
A lot of normies who use social media solely for validation and dopamine hits would give up on the internet entirely, apart from google searches. People would begin to reconnect IRL more.
Influencers/instagram divas would have mental breakdowns when they realize they have to get actual jobs.
People in general would be happier and less stressed, because they wouldn't be constantly scrolling through an endless feed of propaganda, sensationalist headlines and advertisements.
I'm struggling to think of a single bad outcome.

kinda reminds me of the colorful, less saturated yet realisticly colored 80's times portrayed in stranger things. and now i really wish the internet blackout did happen. god damn it