the piemaker

I read somewhere that you should make a conscious effort to talk/write about the current state of the internet because so much of it is ephemeral or even just "vibes" and very quickly lost to time. Here's my thoughts on the first half of 2026, all of which are pretty much just "old man yells at cloud":

• There's been a HUGE increase in "we're making sure you're not a bot" validation pages. Previously it would just be when entering information in a form - now it's just to view webpages. Some high-traffic websites (I'm thinking particularly of Genius) will barely let you get through a few pages without doing another validation test. I've noticed that waiting a few seconds before clicking around seems to reduce this? It could also be because I use adblockers/Firefox/have the "do not track" on so I may look less like a ~typical~ internet user and more like a bot, especially if I'm clicking links quickly.
• Speaking of bots, the Reddit homepage is now pretty much just bots reposting old content. I don't have a Reddit account so I just go straight to my favorite subreddits (r/vintagenailpolish in particular) but I would also check the homepage to see if anything significant is going on. I really don't anymore because of what a mess it all is. Lots of titles that don't match the posts, the same thing posted 5 times in a row in 5 different subreddits, the comments being extremely generic or even having nothing to do with the posts, etc.
• I've started seeing websites that allow you to login just by 2FA, without entering a password. I forget what website it was, but I realized I hadn't actually ever set a password since they steer you to 2FA entirely. Neither good nor bad, just new.
• I'm stretching the limits of the topic here a bit, but TV commercials for local businesses have clearly embraced AI. Some are even outright remaking their previous commercials in shitty uncanny valley AI for reasons that are beyond me. I'm also seeing a lot of AI in window decals and vehicle wraps.

Have you noticed anything new about using the internet since the start of 2026? Any changes - good or bad?

I think it's the Small Internet.

I think I spend too much time On It and my default on the small internet (aka my phone), despite being logged in on here on it, is to go on the algorithmically driven socials (usually instagram, sometimes threads) and doom scroll.

I need to break that habit and default to Dreamwidth instead, even on the small internet.

I'm going to go through and try to get caught up on folks's posts and everything. Just know I have not forgotten about you all, I just have to rebuild my habits, you know?