What is the internet for?

I think it’s fair to say that Cat Valente is neither surprised nor impressed by recent goings-on at Twitter:

I’m sure you can already tell from those numbers that this is going to get long._That’s what fucking happens when you smear shit all over the microblogging platform that corralled my primal screaming into a character limit_. Take that away and I don’t have to replace ands with ampersands or pick and choose what profane adverbs to use. I get them all back.

So strap the fuck in because I am_livid_ and I’ve trimmed a lot of goddamned words in the last 14 years. Having a Substack means I don’t bloody have to anymore.

LET’S DO SOME HISTORY SHIT.

My first experience of the internet came a little earlier, and I was a decade and-a-half older than she was¹ so my experience and the needs it met for me were a bit different. Still, her overall point is absolutely correct. The internet is for interacting with people,² not just for shopping.

[Via More Words, Deeper Hole]