---
author:
email: mail@petermolnar.net
image: https://petermolnar.net/favicon.jpg
name: Peter Molnar
url: https://petermolnar.net
copies:
- http://web.archive.org/web/20190624125824/https://petermolnar.net/momentary-world/
lang: en
published: '2014-04-13T07:51:17+00:00'
summary: Momentary social networks or deep-tech forums - is there nothing in between?
Where is our promised external, collective memory?
tags:
- internet
title: A momentary world
---
The internet you know today had been pretty different a while ago. *Like
music: there were things before mp3, like CD, before that, LP, and
somewhere in the distant path, the gramophone.* Around and close before
2000, the web was full of community pages, chats, IRC channels, MSN &
ICQ messaging, forums.
Virtual places where people, who might never ever met before could get
together, from any part of the world to exchange opinions, to talk about
an interest they share. This was all happening faceless, without the
need of a real ID or using your "real" name - we used avatars and faces
you might not be able to wear in public. It was fantastic, tonic and
vibrant. *Yes, like anywhere else there was a dangerous side to this.
You just had to keep in mind not to talk about bank account details (
and similarly sensitive data ) to strangers.*
When social networks appeared these little sanctuaries had already
started to fall apart. There's a never-ending list of reasons. Quality
differences compared to the new platforms. Crazy amount of way too small
to be an interest sites for \~10 person, who left a bigger communities
because they had an argument on a tiny topic. It became easy to open new
websites a lot of us never knew how hard is to keep something alive on
our own. Collaboration-incapable participants who believed they are so
different they cannot join hands with others. Tired, "I'm too old for
this", "I don't listen to music like this any more" people who only
participated because the needed to belong to somewhere.
By the time I'm writing these lines a significant amount of my friends
are beginning to think that social networks made their lives more
shallow than it used to be. There are no long-running talks and debates
— the posts and replies are full of "More…" buttons and they disappear
from a wall without trace, without reason, without notification. You
never look back at the past events, to see some of the photos taken
there — hell, there are no more photos of the event itself, just "Look,
I was here" pictures everywhere! You never look back at a former topic,
because it's impossible to find it in the maze of the user interface.
Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat: all of them are going
towards a world where everything is momentary and going back even a few
days intentionally is out of interest and business. *( But if this was
true, there were no things like retro, right? )* Even the search engines
are tailored nowadays, showing results they believe to be relevant for
you. Not the absolute results ( most relevant keywords, etc. ) but
something that has a connection to your mailing, to your likes, to your
+1s that could more possible be sold to you. I've read a brilliant
article on some large business site about how today's teenagers are not
becoming the computer ninjas we expected them to be, mostly because of
the too easy to use devices - and I'm not able to find it. 15 years
"experience" of daily search engine usage, and I cannot find it.
UPDATE (2014-05-08 23:32): After downloading my Facebook archive and
cutting through a few hundred posts, I've found the article[^1].
Personally I'm finding this similar to be locked in a moment of time. No
past, no accidental encounters, no out of comfort zone titles. You still
have the illusion of a wide, broad acknowledgement when you update your
status, post a selfie ( lots of followers, yet none is clicking on
"More..." ), or that you have the chance to meet new people in groups,
and so on, but that's and illusion - it's not working.
I really wish people will realize that there should be something in
between the momentary, closed world of social networks and the way too
deep, highly technical forums, because we need something in the middle.
Something that do work as our external, long term, collective memory[^2]
in a useful way.
[^1]:
[^2]: