2019 New Year’s resolutions for the web

Here’s an off-the-top-of-my-head list I definitely didn’t ponder for the last twelve months.

Last week, we discussed exactly what 2018 brought us. But what about what I’d like the Internet to be in 2019?

1. Bring on the happy

The — possibly — biggest online buzzword of the year was ‘trolling’. In fact, it served more as a trigger than anything else. 2018 saw an embarrassing number of online trolling transition into real life, sending the disgusting realm of bullying into a whole other galaxy. So this year, let’s see and have a lot less of that. It’s frustrating and just plain dehumanising. However, there’s another end of the spectrum, where outrage culture has become a fabric of online and offline public spheres. The slightest dig, whatever the intention, has consistently been met with negativity rather than a little room for open discussion.

2. Oddly unsatisfying

I’m frankly tired of the sickening overload of ‘oddly satisfying’ clips making the rounds online. Is it a strange form of escapism? Yes. Is it ultimately ever-so-addictive? Yes. Does it contribute to the growing number of soap bars and heaping piles of kinetic sand going to waste? Sadly, yes. (Plus, I’m biased; the idea of cutting soap bars gives me the heebie-jeebies.)

3. Diverse forums

Reddit has consistently been a space for open discussion, but a unique one in that the space drew in people from different creeds, markets and corners of the Web.

With Facebook being a space for ‘friends’ — a concept I still find debatable — it’s still not a diverse space. We do, after all, choose whom we listen to and Facebook’s algorithm applies to different circles of people to which we gravitate.

4. Enough lagging but bragging

Nothing irks me more than the big network service providers saying they’re India’s number 1 network and going to provide us with dial-up level speed which has us walking around spaces while holding our phones up like the mightiest of torches. How am I supposed to wander around the web when there’s a constant round-and-round loading symbol in my phone?

As Khloé Kardashian yelled in an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians (yes, I unashamedly keep up), “Who cares about radiation? At least die having a good Snapchat going through!”

Call this list utopic and idealistic, but it’s what we need if we’re heading in a somewhat forward direction.

Rants and ramblings across cyberspace