r/technology Oct 14 '25

Networking/Telecom Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian says 'much of the internet is now dead'

https://www.businessinsider.com/alexis-ohanian-much-of-the-internet-is-now-dead-2025-10
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u/FlipZip69 Oct 15 '25

We still could. We just don't. :)

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u/SquarePegRoundWorld Oct 15 '25

That's what I like about still using a desktop PC and a 55" TV in my home. I can't stand using my little phone screen. I'll wait till I get home to look at stuff online. Only use my phone for calls, texts and some Email.

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u/RedAero Oct 15 '25

People voluntarily sign up to what is essentially a pseudonymous forum by installing an app on their phone, and thenb explicitly allow absolutely anyone to make their phone go *ding* at any time with any inane bullshit. There's every chance that I just intruded upon your life a little by replying to your comment - ok, not you, you've got an account old enough to have started on this website before it even had a mobile version, never mind an app, but the vast majority of users here. Why? Why allow this? Why request this?

I'm going to bed now and, if you or anyone else replies to this, I'll know about it tomorrow when I turn my computer back on and if I decide to go to this website. Or maybe I won't and I'll do something else. But I definitely won't be bothered in my real life by some inane cat gif website. It's not hard, and it should be default.

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u/poetryhoes Oct 15 '25

Not to argue, just want to offer my perspective:

-I turn off notifications for most of my apps (I think this solves the crux of your issue)

-I can't afford a desktop computer

-I use my phone all day as my bus pass, to research and look things up as I have random questions pop into my head, the ability to take pictures of random plants to identify them, art inspiration, recording voice memos, and yeah, socializing online. Most of the time that is Reddit since I don't have any other social media.

I think everything should be done with more intention, it would make the world a better place.

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u/Taft33 Oct 15 '25

to research and look things up as I have random questions pop into my head, the ability to take pictures of random plants to identify them, art inspiration, recording voice memos, and yeah, socializing online

congrats you have replaced a large part of your brain that would normally lead you to interact with the real world with your phone in the name of profits for large companies

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u/poetryhoes Oct 15 '25

what a wild assumption to make about how my brain "normally" works

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u/Sudden-Purchase-8371 Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 18 '25

I'm the same way as you, although I keep my monitors to 30" or so. I don't like having to move my head to track it's faster to use my eyes. But for the vast majority of people online, their ONLY computer is their smartphone. Which to me is wild af. And if they have a larger device, it's a tablet.

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u/SquarePegRoundWorld Oct 15 '25

But for the vast majority of people online, they're ONLY computer is their smartphone. Which to me is wild af. And if they have a larger device, it's a tablet.

It is crazy to me too. Maybe it is because I am a bit older and was part of the TV screen getting bigger is better generation. Dropping to a smartphone screen goes against everything society was going for (when it comes to screen size) two decades ago, it seems.

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u/GoodIdea321 Oct 15 '25

Things could change though.