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I've read many articles about the Old Internet being dead (those that write those articles seem implicitly aware that the "Now Internet" sucks) I have a different take. The New Internet is taking root. If you know where to look you can smell the trees.
Something similar is the "Cozy Web". You probably have carved out your own cozy web too. "Private" groups filled with your friends. Things that you share with select group(s) and (generally) the corporations that provide that service. Messenger, Telegram, Slack, Discord, $X DMs, Snapchat, Zoom. Maybe you're down with technology or blessed by the Priesthood of Programmers and know someone that runs their own infrastructure, which is certainly much comfier as far as I'm concerned. Whatever it may be, the important factor in the Cozy web is that it's private.
The New Internet must happen in public by definition. It's already taking shape. Digital Gardens or Online Personal Notebooks. Some small blogs. IndieWeb. There's (generally) nothing to sell, no obligation to buy. They are welcoming spaces filled with personal expression. Many are just electronic Business Cards, some are dense tome's of intently researched knowledge. Some are Parks and some are Libraries. There are still certainly stalls and small businesses too. But there's no Amazon. No endless trackers. No enmourous data centres. Well, at least in my dreams
The tools obviously still need work. Creating and designing a website is not an easy task. Ensuring that it stays running is an ongoing obligation. Most people still don't know about hyper://, ipfs://, or gemini:// hell Google is getting rid of http://! Yet even the alternatives have requirements beyond simply knowing them. Technical skills to use them, resources to have a constantly running computer, dedicated internet and electricity. So even if you can build websites, why would you choose this unknown alternative with all these related problems when you can just pay someone to deal with it.
But it is possible. Community oriented services. Public and Personal spaces wrapped in one. I'm trying to build my own Public Personal space here too. Working with the garage door up.